Prophecy & Sacrifice
by I Was Made For This
Summary: Meteor has been destroyed and the world is supposed to be at peace. Yet there is trouble on the horizon for our heroes. There is a new and iminent threat that casts the world into chaos once again, but this time it seems like all hope is lost. Is it?
1. After It Is All Done

_Chapter 1: After it is all done._

Final Heaven was heavy with business as people crowded into the bar after a long day of work trying to repair Midgar after Meteor had nearly obliterated the world. Midgar used to be a place where people cared little for their fellow man and focused more on the next best way to better themselves. The huge city was separated into 8 sectors each one more dangerous than the last and covered by an upper plate that cut them off from the rest of the world. To those living in the "upper world", the floating city, anyone who was not part of the elite top plate dwellers were as good as lepers in a forsaken wasteland of lost hopes and dreams. The sector dwellers were considered nothing more than the scum at the bottom of the earth and their homes took on the name of what they represented...slums. Crime rates were sky high and prostitution was at the top of the list for people to make a living. Every once in a while an individual would be lucky enough to make it out of the slums. There were only two sure fire ways to make it out. One was if you had a talent that far surpassed those of the "elites" and by some miracle somebody found you and made you an offer that seemed like water in a parched land. And the other was if you took all the money you ever saved up and used it to buy you a one way ticket out of Midgar and to a new life, and that was only if you managed not to get robbed by the various street gangs that patrolled the area. Most people never managed to do either, so therefore it was a never ending cycle of violence and depression, the sun didn't shine in the slums. The plate made sure of that. It was set in stone, those born in the slums died in the slums.

When Meteor was summoned it was like the veil that separated good from evil was torn and the two forces on each side merged together to fight the greater evil. Those who would selfishly hold back to better themselves now gave freely and helped to do more than just line their own pockets. One of the after effects, that also caused "the great merge" was that the plate had been destroyed and no matter how callous the hearts of the top dwellers were at a time, the heat of meteor had thawed the ice box which had once occupied their chests. Not even the most self centered and arrogant CEO could walk past the bloody tear streaked face of a child crying for it's mother, not knowing that she had spent her last minutes sheltering him from the falling debris. This miraculous project was headed by no other than the planet saviors, after the defeat of the great General Sephiroth by Cloud and AVALANCHE their fame had spread throughout all the continents. Everywhere they went people knew them from their selfless effort to save the planet, and they were once again thrust into the bettering of mankind by taking control of the massive Midgar Reconstruction Project.

_CRASH!! _Three more plates fall to the floor as Cloud clumsily drops them ...again. One would think that being so great at handling a sword, carrying a few plates would be a walk in the park, but Cloud's hand -eye coordination would not permit the plates to stay in the tray. Tifa was the proud owner of the place, she and Cloud decided to settle down on the top plate of Midgar and open up a new Bar/Restaurant. One would consider it to be a multi-purpose facility because it was used as a reprieve from a hard day's work for the myriad of people so willing to give of themselves to help rebuild their homes and also as a charity to contribute money to the greater cause. Cloud and Tifa also decided that they would avoid Nibleheim because of what Shin-Ra did. It was no longer their once peaceful hometown but a cover up by Shin-Ra after one of their experiments had gone detrimentally wrong. Cloud had managed to break 15 plates in the space of 5 hours and Tifa was considering telling him to tend to the bar instead of the kitchen. She figured he would do less damage there and considering the fact that plates were more fragile than shot cups and mugs, she would save her self a few hundred gill by relieving him of his current title of bus boy.

"You know what Cloud" Tifa said as she helped him pick up the shattered plates.

She paused and glanced quickly at the clock hanging on the far wall. The clock was a reminder of her old life in Nibelheim, a token from her deceased father. It was made out of wood which showed the toll of time and had her mother's name carved at the bottom. The clock showed five minutes to 3AM.

"I think we should turn in for the night. I'm bone tired and it seems like you are too" she said with a soft giggle.

Cloud reddened a bit, either from embarrassment or the fact that Tifa was standing so close to him. She was his childhood crush that had grown into the woman of his dreams. Cloud was still a tad clumsy in front of Tifa because the feelings that he harbored from a childhood that seemed so long ago. They only seemed to grow stronger with each passing day. He could never bring himself to the point of telling her that she was the missing link in his life and he would lay down and die if she only commanded it. He couldn't even fathom telling Tifa how he truly felt about her though, and that was solely because of his self proclaimed inadequacies. In his mind Tifa is a beautiful and graceful woman that is optimistic, strong willed, and strong hearted. He dreaded the day when her Mr. Right would come running through those bar doors and asking her hand in marriage. He often contemplated introducing this so called Mr. Right to Mr. Ultima Weapon. After the many events that had transpired he saw no way that Tifa would ever consider him as a potential suitor, especially not after he let himself be controlled by Sephiroth.

Sephiroth.

The name rolled around in his mind. He could not bring himself to hate the swords man. They shared a friendship like no two ever had.. They were best friends outside of Cloud's SOILDER training and after time became more akin to brothers. That fateful night that Sephiroth burned Nibleheim, Cloud saw something that was never there before. It was in his eyes, a mix of pure insanity tainted with dread. He looked as if he were being controlled. Cloud remembered seeing it again as Sephiroth drove his Masamune through Aeris. The only difference was that Cloud saw a glimpse of the Sephiroth that he knew for a split second, and as soon as it came it was gone. Cloud would do almost anything to get his best friend back.

As the people filled out of the bar Cloud sat down at a nearby table and collapsed out of exhaustion. How long he sat there it was completely lost to him but he opened his eyes when he felt a tender but firm hand on his shoulder. Cloud got up realizing that he had fallen asleep and Tifa had cleaned up and was ready to go upstairs to the apartment that they shared on the second floor.

"I'm sorry Teef " Cloud said reddening once again. "Oh its alright" Tifa said with a gentle smile gracing her lips.

Cloud was locked in her gaze and she in his as they stood there for what seemed to be an eternity that neither wanted to end. Then there came a knock on the door that startled them both and caused each to look away with their hearts racing and their minds a whirl each lost in their thoughts as they pondered what just happened. The knock came again but this time more forcefully and lasted longer

"WE ARE CLOSED" Cloud yelled.

But the person on the other side just knocked all the harder. As Cloud clambered to the door muttering curses about drunkards missing the last call, his weariness caught up to him as he put his hand on the door knob and sighed with his head turned up to the ceiling. He put on his angriest scowl to face the intruder and flung the door open in a wide and powerful arch. What he found on the other side of the door was enough to change the scowl to shock, to a gentle and inviting smile. Vincent stood on the other side.

"Hello Cloud" Vincent stated in his usual Monotone voice.

"Well hello there ….Vincent", Cloud replied a bit startled at his comrade's troubled demeanor.

As Vincent walked in he looked around and locked eyes with Tifa.

"Hey Vincent", Tifa said in a cheery tone as she put the chair that Cloud had been using, on top the table. "What brings you to this part" Cloud asked as curiosity began creeping into his voice replacing his tiredness.

"There is no time to waste" Vincent replied as soon as Cloud finished his question.

Tifa's head snapped up at Vincent's sudden change in mood. As she dries her hand on a kitchen towel she approaches, with concern clear in her face.

"I'm sorry Vincent" replied lowly "but there is something pressing that needs to be dealt with. I will not ask you to lose sleep tonight, from the looks of it it seems like you guys have been busy. But before you got to sleep I must tell you what troubles me...from the beginning".

Cloud and Tifa take down two chairs as does Vincent and they each sit around the table.

"Go ahead" Tifa says and with a slight nod from Cloud, Vincent begins his story that brings him to the house of his two comrades that he battled with to save the planet just 2 weeks ago........

Two days ago at the Shin-Ra Mansion

Standing alone in the dark basement of the Shin-Ra mansion Vincent has one foot in the coffin and one out. He had been standing there staring at the thing for the last 4 hours and had made various attempts to get the rest of his body inside. It was an ominous thing, sitting there in all its black glory. It was lined with red velvet and embroidered gold arcane markings for which he had no explanation for. The coffin itself was one in which a king would wish to be buried in. It was spacious enough for at least two people and the velvet was as soft as rose petals. This is what he considered to be home for the last few decades. So why was it so hard for him to return "home". He knew why, it was because this coffin which he thought would be a reprieve from the constant life on the road with his "friends" was not what he wanted. He wanted the life on the road.

Other than the tussle of wanting to and not wanting to commit himself to another decade of mourning, there was something else bothering him. He couldn't place his finger on it but there was a definite shift in the way he was feeling and it had nothing to do with him standing in front of his coffin.

"Why now?" Vincent muttered to himself as he removed his foot from the inside of the coffin. He noticed that it was much easier for him to remove a limb than to put one in, he pushed that thought to the back of his head.

" _Fool human, cant you feel it ?" _Chaos asks Vincent from the darkest corners of his mind.

"Feel what?" Vincent asks a bit annoyed at the demon within him for disturbing . Chaos felt the negative energy being radiated at him by his host and smiled, it was one of his greatest joys.

"_The disturbance in the lifestream you idiot"_.

"So thats what it is" Vincent says now realizing why he had such a feeling in the first place.

"_Don't you think you should call on your little human friends so you all can go check this out together"C_haos smirks.

Vincent simply ignores him and decides to call Nanaki. After the conversation with Nanaki, Vincent's suspicions are confirmed. And he decides to take this up with Cloud and Tifa.....

_In the present time:_

"I wonder what the disturbance is all about" Tifa thought out loud rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"Nanaki also said that the disturbance is very great as if it were something powerful and might be a potential threat to the planet". Cloud's eyes widened at this aspect and then closed again with realization. There was no sure fire way to tell but he just knew. It excited him and filled him with a sudden fear that he had to remember to catch his breath.

With out a moments hesitation he gets up and walks over to the window and looks out for a couple of moments. He turned around to see them both looking at him very oddly. With his voice barely over a whisper cloud says:

"I know who it is".

Tifa's eyes widen with curiosity and Vincent's narrow in thought. Long moments passed before Cloud says anything. Then finally with his voice barely audible he says......

"Its Sephiroth..."


	2. Awakening Of Two Souls

_Chapter 2: Awakening of two souls _

Green......as far as his eyes could see. Green to the left, right, up, and down. A lone strand of silver hair obscured his vision. He tried to move his hand to brush it away but to no avail. He tries to move his feet and then his body but Sephiroth realizes that he cant move, not even an inch. After conceding defeat to the invisible force holding him captive, he takes time to look around himself and analyze his surroundings. After a few moments of staring into endless green he finally comes to the conclusion that he is in the lifestream.

_Why?_ He thought to himself as he looks at his surroundings.

_I should be burning in the pit of hell. Why am I here in the lifestream?_ His heart rate quickens and his features twists into a mask of confusion.

_Aren't I supposed to be dead ?_he thought, _why is my heart beating?_

The last thing that Sephiroth remembered was dying in the Northern Crater, well as close to dying as it came. He thought Cloud did a pretty good job at finishing him off and he remembered feeling the sweet release of death. As the finishing blow was struck his last thought were about Cloud. If only he could have made his lips move and his voice work he would have shouted his thanks at the young soldier for releasing him from his prison. If this was life after death and taking into consideration the life that he lived and the crimes he committed, he thought he got off pretty luckily. So many people feared death, facing the unknown to some was just like putting on a blind fold and picking your way through a maze of molten lava. Fear fueled people's emotions when the topic of death was at the forefront of their minds. Some would do anything to live. Now that he had braved death and welcomed its cold embrace, he wished he could go back for one minute just to tell those people that they had nothing to fear. He could deal with an eternity of being held in place to think about the things that he had done. He deserved endless torment for lifetimes to come. Someone had done him an injustice

He was suddenly snapped out his bout of self loathing and somehow transported to a different area. The difference that he noticed immediately was that it wasn't green and for some reason he now had control over his body. He flexed his fingers experimentally and bent his arm to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating. Now he was even more confused. He had just come to accept the terms of his life after death, and now another monkey wrench was thrown in to confuse his already confused mind even further. He looked down at himself for the first time and realized that the image of himself that he had in his mind was totally off. There were no bloody gashes left from the final battle and his long silver hair wasn't matted to his face by his own blood. He was dressed like he normally was. Black leather jacket and leather trousers. His military boots shone as if they had just been shined and his dark gloves were in his right pocket. Masamune was no where to be found, but he couldn't say that he didn't miss the damn thing. He had mixed feelings when it came to the sword, it was a weapon of mass destruction and at the same time his pride and joy. There was only one other man in the world that could have wielded that sword, and he had died at the hand of its new owner. Sephiroth stood in the middle of nothingness waiting for something to happen.

As if on cue he heard foot steps approaching him and turned to see who it was. His heart begins to beat at an accelerated pace once he sees the soft pale face making its way to him. He turns back around and with eyes as wide as materia orbs. He now realized the punishment he was in for. She would haunt him for eternity, how could he face her after what he did to her. Looking at his pale hands, through his mind's eye he sees the blood of the innocents dripping off them. The blood of all the people that he so mercilessly killed. Her blood. He is pulled from his thoughts as a hand is placed on his shoulder. As he turns around once again, Aeris smiling face greets him.

"Hello Sephiroth" she says calmly.

Sephiroth looks into her warm green eyes, at the intensity of them and bows his head. Aeris sees this and then remembers all that has transpired between them in the past. But she isn't fazed because she knew the truth of what was really going on after joining herself with the planet.

"Sephiroth" she says softly before continuing." I know what you are thinking. I'm here to tell you that I forgive you. I know they were not your real intentions and even though you may not know it at the time but you were being controlled by Jenova. She was using you to commit her crimes against the planet and being that the process of your birth was tampered with, you had absolutely no control, she wasn't even your real mother".

Sephiroth looked at her for a long moment, that would explain a lot. He had so many questions bubbling in his head but at the moment he was shocked. She was actually speaking to him, as if he were a human being and not the man who ended her life and nearly destroyed the planet. Aeris suddenly jumped a gave him a fierce hug. His heart stopped. Nobody had ever shaken his hand, much less hug him. Was she serious? Or was this some kind of cruel joke in order for him to let down his defenses. At first he felt a bit awkward but then he lightly placed his hands on the small of her back and pulled her into a gentle but firm embrace. It was too much for him to handle at the moment. Nobody had ever showed him so much compassion,so much forgiveness he had a feeling that things were going to turn out better for him. Maybe this wasn't some twisted joke that the fates were playing on him. Maybe he was getting a second chance at life.

Aeris sighed and wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall. This had went better than she expected. She had had no intentions of hugging him but he looked as if he needed one. So she winged it.

"Well Seph" Aeris said but then stopped and looked at him.

"Is it OK if I call you Seph" she asked. Sephiroth nodded his head twice and gave a small smile. He didn't trust his voice. His emotions were an active volcano ready to explode.

"OK then, well I am hear to tell you that we are needed back on planet earth. We need to be there in time for Apocalypse".

Sephiroth said nothing but his heart raced all the faster. Go back to planet earth? That was a can of worms that didn't need to be opened and one he would much rather keep on the top shelf of his mind. He focused in on her as she continued.

"The planet told me that we are to aid AVALANCHE. She feels that we can succeed once again in stopping the major threat that presents itself to the well being of the planet".

At this statement Sephiroth's face paled. That means he would have to face ... Cloud.

_Cloud_ he thought, the young SOILDER in training had grown to be his best friend. While being under Jenova's influence Sephiroth had absolutely no control . Unless she gave it to him which was rare. Jenova had a pattern, she would control him during the day when the world could see him. She would make him do the dirty work and left him with a full understanding of it. She eventually hoped that the killing would harden his heart and allow him to be the perfect murderer of the planet's inhabitants. At night she would give him part control and he would mourn. Nobody ever knew but Sephiroth would cry for all the people he had killed and Jenova would be a constant presence in his mind reprimanding him for being weak and laughing at his pain, she would also punish him and tell him that he had to be stronger in order for her to use him the way she wanted. She would send jolting shots of mind numbing pain through his body for each time she was displeased with him. Which was quite often. On that fateful day, when Cloud had finally faced off with Sephiroth, Jenova gave him full control and he could not bring himself to attack his best friend. So what did he do? He let go and let Cloud go to work. Before Cloud attacked he seemed to notice that this was not insane Sephiroth but this was his best friend. But he could not stop the attack. So before the final blow came Sephiroth heard cloud say _"it's OK, I forgive you"_. And then he died in peace knowing that everything was good between them. Or at least he thought he ad died.

Sephiroth turned to face Aeris his brow lowering, "what is this Apocalypse?"

Aeris thought for a moment trying to phrase her sentences just right.

"Apocalypse is when All the weapons that planet earth has created to protect herself merge into one supreme being called OMEGA-DESTRUCTOR"

" But I thought that the weapons only appear when there is a threat to the planet," Sephiroth stated clearly confused.

" It hasn't happened yet but the spirit of earth is a seer so she was able to see that which is to happen and even as we speak Jenova The Calamity From The Skies is being reborn. It is she who will deal the lethal blow to cause the planet to release her protectors. Each of the weapons also carry a deadly materia that no human knows of, but I have been informed by the spirit of the planet. Ultimate-Weapon carries the Hate-Materia, Ruby-Weapon caries the Revenge-Materia, Diamond-Weapon carries the Mistrust-Materia, and Emerald-Weapon carries the Rage-Materia."

She paused a while to make sure that he was following. He nodded his understanding and indicated that she should continue. This was a startling piece of information to him, and he was pretty sure that she was able to register the shocked expression which he now wore. This earth which they lived on was full of surprises and wonders that the race of humans could not even begin to comprehend. This just went to show that while being the most advanced creatures which inhabited the planet at the moment, they were by far the most destructive. No matter how far ahead humans thought that their technology was, there were things that they would never know the full understanding and complexity of when it came to the planet. Humans didn't deserve the planet, and the planet didn't deserve to go through the torment. How long would the planet wail, how much longer would humans destroy her. He sighed internally and turned back to Aeris.

" The way these materias work is by the different feelings that each weapon feels. Ultimate-Weapon has a deep hatred for the humans of this planet, Ruby-Weapon wants revenge for putting mother earth through pain, Diamond-Weapon doesn't trust the humans, and Emerald-Weapon's rage is beyond measure. When they merge together, which hasn't been done since eons ago, so do the materia and this materia is called the Oblivion-Materia, which is worse than Meteor in many ways".

After hearing all of this Sephiroth makes his choice right then and there. He was getting a second chance at life and even though his best friend might not accept him again he planned to pay the planet back for being weak and letting Jenova use him.

"How do we get back ?"Sephiroth asked.

Aeris smiled and her emerald green eyes sparkle with a hope that a new day was on the horizon.

"All we have to do is pray Seph. Pray to the Planet and ask her to guide us to our friends and we'll be there."

Friends...he thought.

" Hopefully they accept me" he said as he got to his knees.

Aeris took his hand and closed her eyes as did he.

"Just follow my lead "she said with a reassuring squeeze, to let him know she was with him through the whole ordeal.

"Oh spirit of the planet earth, Please guide our steps....."

Aeris prayed with Sephiroth following after.........


	3. Old Faces & Even Older Faces

_Chapter 3: Old faces and even older faces._

Cloud awoke to the smell of eggs and bacon drifting from the kitchen. Another day of work he thought slightly annoyed. The best thing about facing the new day was the simple fact that Tifa would be there with him. Even though he would never be as close to her as he wished at least she was in his life. He often pondered on what a life without Tifa would be like. His heart involuntary started doing somersaults and he had to take a breath to steady himself. He reprimanded himself, was he so desperately in love with her that the very thought of losing her, which was not even close to possible scared him witless. He was in love with disappointment, she'd never look at him as more than a weak brother, a sibling she had the task of caring for. After the team had dispersed when holy destroyed meteor every one had some one to go home too. Barret had Marlene, Red had his tribe, Cid had Shera, even Yuffie had Godo to go home too. As much as she played the part of a rebellious teenager that despised her father's very existence, the whole team knew that she was anxious to return home and make sure her father was alright. Everybody had some one or something, Tifa had her Bar that had stood throughout the whole ordeal. When she had returned it had been transformed into a refuge for orphans and homeless families that wanted to share their last minutes together and feel safe. Even though if Meteor had fell the poorly built bar would not have saved them, but Tifa hadn't the heart to kick them out so she decided to set up shop on the upper plate. Being one of the planet's saviors there were a multitude of buildings that she could have chosen from. She picked a spacious building with two floors, a large bar, a humongous kitchen, a sitting area out back and located on a main street. Her old bar was reinforced and set up as a shelter now called First Steps. Part of her earnings from her Bar Final Heaven went to the maintenance of the shelter. All in all everybody had something to look forward to, he had nothing but his bike Fenrir and a life on the lonely road. After Cid had made his final stop in Midgar with those two, he felt shamed as he helplessly watched the air ship fly off into the horizon. He wished he would have asked Cid to drop him elsewhere so the awkwardness of answering a question he had no answer for would be avoided.

_She set her bags down and walked to stand beside him. She placed her hand on his shoulder and stared off into the rising sun with him._

"_Sad to see them go" she said in her beautiful voice_

"_Yea" he replied lamely " but we should definitely keep in contact, have a party every now and again, I'll help with the cooking"_

_She laughed and it was as if the chimes of heaven had been rung. This brought the desired response and he felt at least a little better._

"_So..." she started_

_'Shit!" he thought, he had hoped she wouldn't ask. Who was he fooling though. He knew it was an inevitable question_

"_what do you have planned" she finished._

_He let a few minutes pass, and then finally turned to look at her when he noticed she had turned to face him. No doubt contemplating if he had heard her in the first place._

_While looking at her he had to remind himself to breathe and to not stutter. Talking was second nature to him, but in front of her it was like he had to remember to form the words._

"_I honestly don't know Teef" he looked away " I was thinking that maybe I'd go to Kalm and see if everything is OK over there."_

"_Oh..." she said. He instantly noted the distinct change in her voice. She sounded...disappointed. But why?_

_He studied her for a moment._

"_why?" he asked " are you OK?"_

_She looked up at him with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes._

"_Oh! Yes silly, of course." she playfully punched him in the shoulder._

_She paused for a moment._

"_Well to tell you the truth, I was hoping you would stay in Midgar. It'll be kind of lonely here with everyone gone. Marlene isn't around to speak to anymore. Barret said she was too thrilled to accompany him to Corel. So it will be just me. Just thought you would stay in Midgar"_

_She looked away, obviously embarrassed. _

_Before he knew what he was saying he answered her. He just wanted her to smile again, her real smile._

"_Well Kalm is just on the out skirts of Midgar, I'm pretty sure I could check and be back before your even finished settling down." _

_It wasn't like he had anything else to do anyway._

"_OH REALLY CLOUD??!" she sounded ecstatic. His heart burst with joy._

"_Yup". He said. "If you have room on the staff for a bus boy, I'm your guy"_

_She laughed her special laugh again and hugged him. _

"_Come on Cloud, lets go home"._

That was the best day of his life. When she said "home" she validated everything about him and he now lived with the fact the "home" was anywhere Tifa was, that how he had come to be in the same place as she. They had the top floor turned into a huge two bed room apartment and business was great. One thought pushed to the forefront of his mind and it made his spirits rise. He realized that today was Sunday and he didn't have to work. But then why was there so much commotion down stairs and why was he smelling food. The upstairs kitchen was located two doors from his bedroom. He peeked out his open door and realized the light was off and that the noise seemed muffled, meaning it was coming from down stairs. He always kept his door open when he slept. In case Tifa needed him in the middle of the night he wouldn't be hindered by the door barring his way. His brow lowered in confusion, why does it sound so busy downstairs he thought. He looked at the time and realized it was well pass 12:00. He got up.

He went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth and washed his face to erase any traces of sleep, he then threw on a white and red shirt with blue cargo shorts and checked the mirror to ensure he looked the part of "Planet Savior". Tifa had insisted that he have a sense of fashion. News paper reporters and paparazzi were always stopping them in the street. Cloud would do anything to make her happy so he willingly went with her when she decided to go shopping. It was a hair pulling, brain picking process but he endured it. Any time spent with Tifa was good time. Eventually he began to catch on and there were times when Tifa would look at him, then turn back around and look again. She would then wink and he would know she was feeling his outfit, or he looked "cute" according to her. He decided to try his hand at getting her something to wear, so he bought her a white frilly dress with feathers on it. He assumed all girls liked clothing with feathers. He had yet to see her put that dress on again. He had come to the conclusion that she just wore it because she felt sorry for him. The night she wore it when they went to the movies, on their way back home a street walker stared at her. They had on the same exact dress. The only difference was that Tifa's wasn't the obnoxious red that the prostitute sported.

Cloud was devastated, he had embarrassed her with that dress. After looking at her and seeing her various outfits he tried his hand at it again. He had yet to see her with the new dress. It had been a few days. He put on his flip flops that complimented his clothes in a casual way and satisfied with what he saw in the mirror headed down stairs. As he entered the kitchen he was taken by surprise as he saw the whole crew of AVALANCHE eating breakfast and watching TV. He stood there for a moment dumbfounded. When at last Yuffie took note of him she ran up to him and gave him a hug all the while saying it's about time you woke up. Barret, Cid, Yuffie, Nanaki, Vincent, and Tifa were there. Barret and Cid were busy at a card game while Red was curled up beneath a table, Vincent was in a corner and Yuffie was just all over the place. The first place his eyes fell was on Tifa. She was wearing a khaki and blue dress with blue sandals to match. His eyes widened, that was his dress! He couldn't believe how good she looked in it. It was a short dress that ended about 3 inches above her knees. It was short sleeved and had a collar. She had the first 4 buttons opened which showed cleavage, enough to be decent while at the same time intrigue. The dress had 2 blue stripes bending in toward each other under the bust and ending right above the hem only to arch into the same design in the back. She looked gorgeous. He hair was pulled into a lose ponytail and tied with a rubber band, her ponytail swished back and forth with her actions at the stove. He blinked and when his eyes were open again, she was facing him with a smile.

Clouds thoughts were interrupted by Tifa asking him if he was hungry and what he would like to eat. He gave her a slight shrug of his shoulders and smiled also. This was an inside joke that they both knew meant "surprise me". She rolled her eyes with a wink and turned back to her work. Not before mouthing

Thanks for the dress, I love it.

"What are all of you guys doing here" Cloud asked, turning back to his friends.

"Vincent made a few phone calls this morning and by 11:30 they were all here" Tifa said from her position at the stove.

Cloud looked out the window and in the fields of Midgar he saw the Highwind.

He smiled and the bliss of having his comrades made his day seem a lot brighter. Tifa was already making her way to him with a plate of food. He sat down and his stomach protested and demanded to be fed.

After breakfast was served and eaten Barret spoke up with a gruff voice.

"So Spike what the hell is this meeting all about".

Cloud looked up from his spot on the table and second serving of coffee and turned to Vincent.

"Well Vince you're the one who came, so tell them what's happening".

Vincent moved off his spot from the wall and shifted uncomfortably into a position where everyone would be able to see and hear him. Clearly not thrilled about being the center of attention. He sucked it up though. Responsibility versus comfort. Responsibility won. In a clear voice he stated what happened to him 3 days ago.

When next Sephiroth opened his eyes he was on the fields of an unknown town. As he looked around him to the left he spotted Aeris getting up and to the right he spotted Midgar. So this is where we are he thought to himself.

"Are you ready?" Aeris asks as she spotted their destination.

"As ready as I'll ever be" Sephiroth stated with a sigh.

As they walked the sun was high in the sky and the day seemed beautiful. It would have been perfect if it wasn't for the group of monsters that approached them. The group consisted of Two Water elephants and three motor skeletons. Sephiroth smiled to himself as he charged into battle seeing it as his duty to protect the unarmed Aeris.

He unsheathed the Masamune and held it at arms length, pointed at one of the elephants. The elephant charged at him, but Sephiroth saw it coming and with a spin on his right heel his left leg went crashing into the skull of the beast. It was dead before it hit the ground. Turning to the monster that tried to sneak upon him in unawareness he turned and gave the motor skeleton a quick slash with his sword causing it to fall to pieces in front of him.

"HELP!" He heard a female voice calling.

He turned to see a motor skeleton chasing Aeris. At the sight of this his rage knew no boundaries. With inhuman like speed he covered the twenty feet distance in a split second.

"WAVE OF TERROR!!" He yelled.

As the surrounding area darkened the Masamune started to glow a pale yellow color. With all his might and power tunneled into this one spin he made a 360-degree spin on his left heel and skidded to a halt on his right. With electricity cracking in the air and a glowing force field around him Sephiroth said the words that would unleash all his furry on the monsters that dare attack the one that he had unconsciously sworn to protect.

"Go". he whispered

All of a sudden waves and waves of overwhelming power slammed into the enemies at all angles, shrieks of terror and death rose from the throats of the beasts only to be lost with the wind that went blowing by. When the dust had settled there was noting left but a charred circle of grass and Sephiroth standing in the middle of it. Aeris turned and ran to him throwing her arms around his neck, his sensitive ears picking up on the sporadic beating of her heart. She'd been scared. He didn't like that.

They arrived at Midgar with no further disturbances and headed for the upper plate. The man at the gates of Midgar had been very specific with his directions to the Final Heaven bar. They arrived at the seemingly closed bar in record time. Sephiroth wished they would have walked a tad slower. He still wasn't sure what was to be said when he finally saw Cloud. As the two stood in front of the door Sephiroth steeled him self for the moments that were about to come.

There were two knocks at the door and Cloud's instincts automatically kicked in. He was up and already headed for the door when he turned to make sure that everyone was there. After he had counted heads and realized that everyone was there, he went to the door expecting it to be the mail man. He was after all expecting a package. The two knocks came again. More insistent this time. The last time he had answered impatient knocking it had been Vincent bearing troubling news.

"The surprises never stop" he said to himself.

Little did he know that his words rang so true. As he opened the door his head was turned toward the kitchen and he was laughing. Barret had just made one of his smart comments about Cid and his uncanny ability to avoid doing anything that had to deal with house work. By the time his head turned back to greet the mail man. His smiled withered and his eyes refused to blink.

Standing before him in all their glory was Aeris but most of all and more importantly ........ Sephiroth.

"Hey there Cloud", Sephiroth said with a hint of a smile on his lips.

Cloud's mind was black. There was no response that he could give. His lips moved of their own accord.

" Some package" Cloud whispered as his hand fell from the door knob.


	4. Calamity From The Skies

_Chapter 4: Calamity From the skies._

Pain... thats all she felt as her body went through the bitterly aggravating process of being reborn. How long she lay there writhing in pain was lost to her, it could have been 1 minute, it could have been 4 hours, or it could have been six weeks. It didn't matter anyway, the immense pain that shot through her very being was unlike anything that she had ever experienced. One of her standing, of her salience, should not have to suffer in such a manner. She grit her teeth through the onslaught to her senses and decided that it couldn't possibly go on any longer. Well thats what she hoped. She felt the slightest twinge of relief when the pain subsided just the least bit. She willed herself to endure it, it couldn't last any more than what she had been through.

It couldn't.

It was a while before she could release the pent up breath that was in her lungs. She blinked her eyes to remove the tears that had gathered there, she blinked again to remove the blurriness of not using her eyes. When the pain finally subsided she was still left with a dull throbbing that meant if she moved too hard she would reignite the flames of pain that seemed to be waiting for her to make the wrong move. She waits a moment for the blurriness to fade and then for the first time tried to focus in on her surroundings. The first thing she sees is white and the first thing she feels is cold. An unbearably cold substance seemed to try and seize her and engulf her whole body trying to freeze her to a point of no return. With what little strength she had left she pushes her self up and realizes she is only a couple of feet away from the entrance of Icicle Inn. That explained the snow and why she felt cold. But there was still something wrong. She was freezing.

' _Why do I feel so cold'_ Jenova thought to herself.

A quick glance down the length of her body gave her the answer that she sought. She realized that she was completely naked. Being the vile creature that she was and having no moral value Jenova had no shame is her current state of awareness. She felt more aggravated at the fact that she was freezing instead of shame at being exposed. With the same dull ache in her joints and muscles she decided that she should get up and do something before the chance to destroy the world again be lost due to her dying in the snow. She attempts to get up and go into the town but realizes that she is too weak and needs to gain her strength back and she needed to get it fast.

'_I need to feed' _she thought to her self with a smirk.

As if on cue a townsman had just left the village in search of a wild rabbit or two that he and his newlywed wife can eat. Jenova sees his approach and decides that it would have to be now or never. This was her opportunity. She braced herself as she lay back in the snow and waited. She didn't know if she had enough energy to complete the next phase of her plan but she had to try. With what little power she had left she caused her skin to turn a sickening shade of blue. She now looked as if she had been laying there for an eternity and was freezing to death. Once She estimated that he was within hearing range she begins to moan softly but loud enough to get his attention. As naive minded as this man was he stopped and examines the person laying in the snow. His eyes widen as he realizes that it is a woman who is naked and freezing. He takes off his jacket and runs back into town with Jenova wrapped up tightly. Jenova smiles to her self as she sets her plans into motion.

"Honey!!" The man yells as he entered the house he shared with his wife.

"I'm here" she calls back and stops dead in her tracks as she sees the bundle he is carrying.

" I found her outside freezing in the snow" he states as he lays Jenova on the floor and begins loosing the jacket around her.

Jenova moans softly again.

"The poor thing" his wife states as she comes closer to see the shade of blue that was the pigment of Jenova's skin.

"Um...honey I think that you should handle this, she ummm...doesn't have any clothes on"

With a nod of understanding from his wife he retreats to the kitchen. His wife tenderly unwraps the thick jacket to get a better look at Jenova. She does a quick analyzation of their unexpected guest and rushes upstairs to find something that would fit.

When she returned she was carrying a pink sweat suit that would fit and keep her warm while she recovered. She maneuvered Jenova and positioned her in front of the fire place so that she would warm up. After she was satisfied with her work she went to the kitchen to discuss the next step with her husband.

Mariah was a warm woman with a heart that went out for anything or anyone who need her help. She was about 5'6 and 130 lbs. She had violet eyes long black hair to about the middle of her back and the same skin tone as Yuffie being that they both were Wutaineese. Her husband was about 6'2 and close to 220 lbs. He had gray eyes with blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was built to be in the army and he was. He was born in Mideel but moved to Midgar at the age of 5. That's where he grew up and joined the army and fought in the Midgar- Wutai war, that is where a forbidden love sprouted between two enemies. Three weeks after the war, Wutai had called for a peace treaty with Midgar and that is when Michael Garner met Mariah Talon and they became one. Each of them were great warriors and even after the war the training never stopped. As of now they were on break. Mariah wielded a cross between a whip and a sword that was specially designed for her by her deceased father and Michael's specialty was the gun.

"So what are we going to do with her" Mariah asked concern clear in her voice.

"We will help her recover as much as we can and then ensure she can function on her own. Give her a couple of gill and a hot meal. That _IS _all we can really do".

Mariah nodded her head in agreement before closing the gap between the two and locking her lips with his.

This was a part that Jenova had not calculated before time. She could not just get up and walk around like nothing happened. She had been lying there for almost 6 hours and her patience was quickly depleting. She cursed under her breath, this was all Sephiroth's fault she fumed. How could she let him get away in the northern crater. The very thought of him made her want to kill her whole "act" and simply do what she needed to do. While she lay there waiting for the time to pass, even though it was grating her nerves she had to admit that for the most part she felt better than she felt laying out in the cold. She took a calming breath and turned her mind to more important matters. She thought about what she wanted to do to Sephiroth once she got her hands on him. Well once she got her mind in his. She laughed. Oh how she would make him pay for his insolence. He would know what real pain was and she would ensure that his begging would go unheard. When she was done with him he would beg for death but it wouldn't come. There were a few things she had planned for him, she just needed time, and laying there on the carpet was depleting what little of it she had.

When she had had enough she got up and shook herself out of the jacket and looked around the little living room to see a pair of sweats and an ridiculously ugly pink top to match.

'_I guess these are for me_ 'she thought to herself as she donned the clothing.

"OH! Your finally up, you were out for a long time. We were worried" she heard a female voice say in surprise.

Jenova quickly changed her skin pigment into that of a normal human and turned around to see a woman standing in the walkway.

_'So the human male has a mate'_ Jenova thought to her self.

"Yes I just got up" Jenova stated with her voice cracking from the lack of use, she flinched in surprise at the sound of her. She wasn't expecting that. Her anger flared.

"Well you must be hungry, so I'll go get dinner".

Jenova gave a smile and thought to her self:

'_Tonight will be the night.'_

"Thanks, you are too kind" she said at the woman's back.

After dinner was served, eaten, and the dishes washed Jenova sat on the couch with this couple and talked with them about their life. She learned that each had fought in war and had gotten married soon after. She also learned that the female was with child for the male.

"So whats your name and why were you out there today?" Michael asked.

Jenova's evil mind went wild as she came up with an evil lie.

She Jenova forced herself to cry and she stated in a low voice:

"My name is Jenova and this morning my husband and I got into an argument and before I knew it he was lashing at me with his fists and kicking me. Before I lost conscious I heard him say that he will leave me to freeze and die on the icy slopes near icicle inn."

With that she remained silent as false sobs shook her frame.

Tears brimmed in Mariah eyes as she moved closer to her husband. Michael's face was solemn as he held his wife tighter.

" I'm so sorry to hear that Ms. Jenova, that is horrible and I don't care what you guys might have been arguing about, it's not you worth losing your life over. But you must be extremely tired and need rest" he replied.

Jenova nods her head and they both lead her up stairs to the guest room.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality, I will try to get my bearings and release u from this burden by the morning" she lied

"Nonsense! You will stay here as long as you need to and until your fully recovered, you are forbidden to leave this house" Mariah said. I'll hear no complaints, now you have a good night" and with that she closed the door.

Mariah sighed and tears made their way down her face. She gripped her husband's hand and turned to their bedroom. While walking, Michael whispered to her.

" I would never. I love you" he says.

I love you too" she replies before locking lips with him and going to the bedroom.

Close to Midnight a figure creeps out of the guest bedroom and strides to her host's bedroom. She opens the door without hesitation and turns the light on revealing her naked body. Michael and Mariah startle and when their eyes focus they see Jenova standing in their doorway in the very same state they met her in. Naked.

" Whats the problem ?" Michael asks as he reddens at the site of this naked woman in his bedroom and his wife laying next to him".

" I need to feed" Jenova says simply.

By this time they both had risen off the bed and were standing next to each other. Their backs facing the wall. Mariah had a dangerous look in her eyes, and Michael was still embarrassed.

Jenova noted the look Mariah was giving her and settled her eyes on the woman.

"Take it easy bitch" Jenova spat.

And before anyone knew what was happening Jenova had took Mariah and flung her against the wall, holding her with an impenetrable force field. Deciding that things were moving far too slow for her liking she decided to set the the steps into motion. Using her dark magic, Jenova easily takes control of Michael's mind. His jaw went slack and his whole demeanor changed, he looked like a willing servant ready to do his master's bidding. Thats just what he was.

"I heard the promise that he made you dear" Jenova said, once again turning to Mariah on the wall

"Let me go!" she yelled and fought viciously against her restraints.

Jenova just laughed.

"Michael" she called, and he immediately turned to her. "Break your promise"

With lighting fast speed Michael was in front of his wife. He placed his hands against the wall and moved his hands all around her. It seemed as if he was looking for a way to get her down.

"Please Michael..baby, you have got to help me down. We have to get out of here".

He leaned in to put his face real close to hers, the way he always did when he expected her to kiss him. Mariah highly doubted this was the time to be romantic but she leaned in for the kiss anyway. Before she knew what was happening her head was slammed back into the wall and she felt a spray of blood explode from her lip as it was shredded by her teeth. Her head spun and her vision swam from the magnificent pain, she couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Michael pulled his hand back and let another blow fly. This one struck her in the eye and just from the sound of the hit and the pain she felt, she knew that her eye would swell, she could no longer see out of it and she had no way of telling if it was tears or blood that she felt running down her face. The third blow came and it was so hard she couldn't catch her breath. A sickening feeling bubbled in her stomach as the realization of what was happening dawn on her. After the fourth and fifth blow she could stand no more. A broken scream ripped from her throat only to be cut short as another blow broke her jaw and removed 3 of her teeth. All the while she heard Jenova cackling in the background. She decided she had to do something before she died.

"MICHAEL!!" she screamed...he hit her again. "MICHAEL STOP!!" he hit her two more times.

Her voice was failing and she was loosing a lot of blood.

Her next words took most of her energy to utter and it was nothing more than a whisper that was lost with the next _thud" _that announced another blow to her head. She blacked out.

As raw as her throat and voice were the next pain riddled shriek that tore through the house was enough to rip the skin off flesh.

Michael aimed his huge fists at her abdomen. And let another blow fly. She screamed again, her now bruised eyes unable to do anything but tear up and bleed opened wide enough for her to see Michael hit her again. Between her thighs of a sudden felt wet, she leaned her aching neck far enough to see a pool of blood forming under her. This wasn't happening, she started hyperventilating. Why was this happening to her, she hadn't done anything wrong. She just wanted to live a normal life with her and her family. This wasn't right, it wasn't right. She couldn't even cry. She couldn't even think. She now took little notice of the attacks being loosed against her, against her stomach, against her baby. Her baby was dead, no doubt after the first blow, murdered by its own father. She wished he would break her neck and end it. Put her out of her misery. She had nothing left. In a matter of minutes her whole life had been stripped and ruined. She passed out from the sheer misery of what had become of her. Not before he slapped her so hard she thought that he would have broken her neck for sure.

How long she was out she didn't know, but the first thing she heard was moaning. She wearily brought her head up and what she saw slammed her head into the wall on her own accord. Directly ahead of her she saw Michael and on top of him was Jenova. Their perfect bodies shining in the moonlight....as one.

Her moans of ecstasy rose in volume as did he. After a while he grabbed her by the throat and pushed her onto her back. They were now facing Mariah. As he relentlessly pushed himself into her they both looked at her. Their four eyes bore bullet holes into her already broken heart. He winked at her and Jenova dramatized her actions by wrapping her legs around his waist and fondling herself. He looked down and let a blow fly across her face. Jenova only smiled and continued to push so that he would go as deep into her as possible. He roughly pulled out and positioned her so that he was getting access from the back. Again they were both facing her. Mariah couldn't even cry.

"Give it to me Michael" Michael went faster.

The sounds of his body slapping against her was sickening. He held her hair in a tight grip and mercilessly pounded her. She didn't even look to be enjoying it. She seemed to do it so that she would add insult to injury. When Michael seemed to have spent all his energy and was about to climax. She turned around and backhanded him so hard he flew against the wall and landed on the floor.

"I'm tired of playing" Jenova says as she stands up in front of Mariah "lets say we give him his mind back, after all he was able to see what he was doing."

Michael was at a lost for words, he watched himself beat his wife mercilessly and he watched himself have sex with their guest but he was unable to stop himself. He fought, God how he fought but he couldn't stop. The most that he was able to do was slap her during the sex. Tears fell as he watched his wife held up against the wall her eyes black her mouth bleeding her own blood dripping to the white carpet below her. Their unborn baby killed by its own father. Jenova laughs and Michael's anger grew to the point of explosion. He charged toward her but with quick reflexes her 12 inch claws extend and she rips his throat from his neck before he even reaches her. Michael falls dead to the ground and Mariah loses consciousness as she slides to the ground. Jenova looks around and goes to the closet and puts on Mariah's clothes. She didn't bother to finish Mariah off, she would die of her own accord, or end up killing herself. She had nothing to live for.

She left the house, the first step of the demise of the world already complete.

Mariah woke again and pain shook her body, she stayed still for fear of Jenova still being around and wanting to finish her. When she realized the house was empty she crawled for the phone sitting on the floor. Each step of the way increasingly agonizing and her strength fading.

She dialed the police.

"Emergency Center, how may I help you" came a female voice.

"Help...me...my...my...husband...is dead...we were...attacked...by...a woman...Jenova...the...Garner...res...idence..." she managed

With that she clicked off and with her last amount of energy she crawled to Michael and laid her lips on his, his head barely connected to his body. But she didn't notice. She whispered to him as the approaching blackness seemed to soothe her pain and make the world look brighter. How ironic. But Michael would never hear the oath that his wife swore to him. His good heart had repaid him with the death of his child and the price of his life.

"I forgive you...I love you...I'll avenge you...rest in peace my ...love..."

She surrendered to the wings of darkness.


	5. What Next?

_Chapter 5: What Next?_

Cloud stood there totally speechless. _Say something Cloud!_ His mind yelled at him but he couldn't. His lips refused to work and sharp as his reflexes were with a sword they seemed to fail him now. His lips refused to co-operate with his brain. At that moment in time there was no connection. His lips wouldn't work but his brain was going at a million miles per hour. He was thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. Whenever he thought one question stood out enough to be asked another would take its place and the cycle would start over. His face betrayed nothing and was as white as the purest form of mako energy. There were so many questions Cloud wanted to ask:

_How come you are back? _

_Why did you do it? _

_How Could you do it?_

_Are you still my best friend?_

_Where do we go from here? _

_Whats next?_

Aeris noticed the awkward silence and decided that it was time something was said, they had only been there for a few seconds but it already seemed like an hour. Cloud paid little heed to her, he was surprised when he saw her, she had noticed that much. But now his eyes were trained on Sephiroth, he had a strange look in his eyes. It was a mixture of fear, anticipation, longing, and hurt. She could see all the emotions dance in his eyes but the rest of his face was as still as stone. This had gone better than she would have hoped. She was expecting to hear steel against steel and feel magic in the air as the strongest spells were conjured to rain death. Cloud was unresponsive, she didn't know what scared her more, an angry Cloud ready to attack or the person she was looking at now.

" Hello...Cloud" she said softly.

His eyes flickered to her only for an instant... no response.

" Hey Cloud!" Aeris heard a female voice yell. A small smile played on her lips. Tifa.

She had shouted her question while making her way to him through a hallway and when she was behind him she asked"Who is at the door?"

She seemed to sense that something was wrong and decided to step closer when she saw the unresponsive Cloud. She managed to squeeze her way behind him and turned to the door. What she saw was enough to make her next words get caught in her throat and cause her to take a sharp breath. Again with the silence. Tifa's heart rate was ecstatic, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. If she wasn't dreaming then for some reason her best friend was standing at the front door and Cloud's arch enemy was standing there with her. This had to be some terrible joke, there was no possible way that this was happening now. Her mind went back to the night before when Vincent came knocking on their doors announcing the disturbance in the lifestream. When Cloud had so clearly stated he felt that it was Sephiroth, she didn't believe him then and she could not...would not believe what she was seeing now. Maybe this was some joke by an anti-AVALANCHE group, she had come across them on numerous occasions. One would think that after saving the world from near destruction there would at least be some gratitude being shown, apparently that was not the case. There were those who felt that the planet and its inhabitants should have been destroyed. The most that she could do when faced with those radicals was smile.

Cloud had finally managed to came out from his trance and attempted to speak.

"Ae...ris he" said lowly. But was looking at the man in black.

Red alerts were going off all over in Tifa's mind, she still didn't understand what was happening. Her attention focused on Sephiroth, he was looking at Cloud which she was grateful for she didn't want to be the one under that scrutinizing gaze. Standing in front of her the man who murdered her father, burned down her hometown, and almost took Cloud from her. The building adrenaline, fear, shock, and hate exploded inside her. Red hot anger and hatred burned in her eyes, it consumed her very soul. In a voice dripping with loathe, vengeance, and as dark as death she stepped forward and said

"Get...lost"

Before Sephiroth and Aeris knew what had happened the door was in their faces and moments later a soft click announced that they were locked out and no longer welcomed.

Cloud and Tifa stood there shocked at what was on the other side of the door. She couldn't contain herself anymore and the sound of Tifa's soft sobs were clearly audible in the eerie silence left in the slamming door's wake. Cloud turned to her and pulled her into his arms. He held her. He held her close and let her sob into his shirt, he too felt emotionally spent and wanted nothing more than to just run away. It was to much for Tifa. She had promised herself that she would shed no more unnecessary tears, that life was good and it would continue to be that way. And that no matter what, she would not cry in front of Cloud.

She felt herself being pulled closer to him and his arms settled comfortably around her waist and he placed his chin atop her head and let her cry. Even though there was impending danger on the other side of that door and a locked door would do little to stop it if said danger were intent on getting in, she couldn't help but get lost in his arms. Her heart started beating faster but this time it was from the sensation that being in his arms brought. Her tears stopped of their own accord and her body wanted to do nothing but merge with his until they were one. How she wanted to look into his eyes and tell him she loved him. When he realized that her tears had finally subsided he lifted her chin with his finger and stared at her. This was exactly how she had pictured it happening, all he had to do now was just say those words and the world would be perfect. There would be no disturbance in the lifestream, there would be no loud team members screaming for seconds, there would be no Aeris and Sephiroth. It would only be them and that was all she needed. She waited for him to say it, she was so focused on his mouth she thought she could see each breath he took. She watched his mouth form and then listened intently for the next words that he would say, they were enough to break her heart, but it wasn't his fault. Just her own stupidity at the thought that Cloud would say them.

"Are you OK?" he asked. Her heart fell to the bottom of her shoes but she nodded her head and gave a weak smile.

Then came the soft knocks again.

"Its OK" Cloud said softly as he broke the embrace and turned to the door.

Tifa had to admit that she was a bit surprised that he was actually opening the door but she trusted him. After all they had defeated Sephiroth under Cloud's command. She just had to put her faith in him again to do the same if the need presented itself. But this time putting her faith in him felt like stepping off the Gaia cliff with a blind fold. If it was for Cloud, she would do it. She heard the lock click and she held her breath.

As Cloud opened the door the two were just standing there looking at him. Aeris looking a bit relieved and Sephiroth slightly amused.

" Well aren't you gonna invite us in ?"Aeris said with a smile.

"Um... sure" Cloud said. "Just follow me".

He led them toward the kitchen where the whole team was waiting. An explosion waiting to happen. Cloud followed by Aeris followed by Sephiroth followed by Tifa... a good distance behind.

When they entered the into the kitchen it was as if time had stopped. No body moved no body breathed and everyone stared. Dumbfounded at the two _people _standing before them. The silence was broken as Barret clicked off the safety of his gun arm and cursed a string of obscenities his Missing Score aimed at Sephiroth's head. In an instant weapons were loaded, readied, and aimed.

"STOP!" Cloud yelled, he was expecting this and had to stop it before things got uglier. His startled team mates looked at him and shook their heads no.

_Stop_ they thought. This was the same man that in some way form or fashion had caused each and every single one of them some type of pain. This was the man that killed one of their friends and almost destroyed the earth. What the hell did he mean STOP?! Cloud obviously seeing this was going no where put a tone of superiority in his voice and this time with a calm as quiet as the dead of night repeated his order.

"Stop"

No one could comprehend him at the moment, there was enough adrenaline circulating in that very room to fuel a mako reactor. They heard the order but they couldn't bring themselves to follow it. They wanted to see blood and they wanted to see it now. Nevertheless he was their leader and after their moment of madness had passed reluctantly lowered their weapons, but keeping them at a safe distance...just in case. When all the weapons were lowered Cloud turned around and quietly told their "guests" to have a seat. When everyone was seated Cloud deliberately took a seat next to Tifa and immediately took hold of her hand. Her cheeks reddened a little, but nobody took notice of it because their eyes were trained on Sephiroth and his Masamune sitting, ready for use on his side.

Cloud was going through a piece here. Here he was, sitting in front of his best friend. The same man who burnt down his hometown, the same man that almost killed Tifa, the same man who summoned meteor, and the same man who killed one of his friends. _What should I say to him _Cloud thought wearily. I can't just say hey Seph why did you do all those things and what are you doing here and laugh it off, it went much deeper than that. His heart was heavy, his hands were trembling , and his eyes threatened to spill tears that had been stored away for so long. Tifa noticed his uneasiness and gave him a reassuring squeeze, she was the one who needed the squeeze.

Aeris decided that since no one else was talking then she would be the first to say something.

" It's so good to see all of you guys again" she stated lowly.

" I know this may be a little weird for all of you...knowing that I am supposed to be... dead but before you all say anything let me tell you my story. After meteor and holy collided I was sent to the spirit of the planet because the earth could finally be at rest, the immediate threat gone. But about a week and a half later the spirit of the earth came to me with some disturbing news that was very urgent. She told me that Jenova was being reborn and that she was getting ready to bring forth the Apocalypse."

At this statement eyebrows went up and eyes widened.

Chaos cackled in Vincent's mind _I knew sooner or later it would come_ he said before disappearing just as fast as he had come. A chill traveled its way down Vincent's spine. He wondered at this, but quickly focused on Aeris once again.

"Now you all must be wondering why Sephiroth is here. Well the spirit also told me that in order to stop the Apocalypse he is needed. She also gave me a reede that is a mystery to me". She folded her hands in her lap and looked around the room, staring at everyone.

It was Sephiroth's turn to look interested because she had never told him about this.

"This is what it said" her voice changing as she repeated the reede:

_The black winged angel must learn to fly _

_Then bring the golden one to the sky_

_In order to stop that most doomed fate_

_The two must find their long lost mate_

_The mate themselves have awesome power_

_Which will help to breach the enemies' tower._

After a moment of silence Aeris began again.

"Now you must be wondering what this Apocalypse is. Well this is what the spirit of the planet told me..."

_Two hours later..._

"And that is why Sephiroth and I are here, to join AVALANCHE. So that we will be able to stop the doomed fate of the planet.

Cloud was silent for the whole time and his eyes would often stray toward Sephiroth only to meet his eyes and then they both would look away.

"So what do you have to say about this Spike" Cid grunted from the back of the room.

Cloud looked up to Aeris and gave a smile, got up and turned to his crew.

" Well you have all heard the dilemma that we are facing. So I don't plan on vacationing any longer. None of you are obligated to stay here and fight along side us but all of your help will be greatly appreciated. I for one am going to help Aeris...and...Sephiroth." With that he looked around and saw shocked faces of everyone and gave a smile that translated into don't worry I know what I am doing. Tifa then stepped forward and embraced Aeris.

"I will be glad to help you she said with a smile. Anything that is important to you is important to me so I am here for you all the way."

As cloud looked around once again Nanaki stood on all fours and bowed his head showing that he was going to follow them all the way. Vincent stepped off the wall and gave a slight nod that Cloud acknowledged then fell back into place. With tears in her eyes Yuffie approached Aeris and hugged her quickly before saying

"I'm cool with it."

Barret just grunted a

"Yea whatever" and all the other obscenities were lost under his breath.

Now it was just Cid. Every one looked at him expectantly...

"Oh what the $&!# hell you all need me to pilot that damn ship right? So I guess I'm in."

"What about HIM!?" Yuffie called referring to Sephiroth.

Aeris face became a bit more solemn.

"Well what happened was that after I joined with the spirit she let me know things that I would have never known. She told me that the reason for Sephiroth behaving in the way he did was because Jenova was controlling him. He did not know at the time but he does now. I pray that you guys can forgive him. I know its hard but it was not his fault."

Sephiroth then stood up.

"I am truly sorry" he said with his head bowed. "I don't expect you to forgive me because what I have done is beyond the point of redemption. But I do hope that we can all wok together to defeat Jenova and to fix the wrong that she is doing." With that he sat back down and eyes all of them.

Tifa spoke up: she needed to speak.

" we can work together Sephiroth and I do forgive you but we have to work to the point of becoming friends. Just seeing you brings back so many memories that I thought were long gone and forgotten. I know that it is not your fault for what was done to you. In some way we were all victims to the craziness that went on". Tears were in her eyes. "But this goes beyond just you and I, there is another threat to the planet and something has to be done about it."

With that she sat back down and Sephiroth received a nod in agreement from the rest of the team.

With all of that said and done Cloud took the floor once more.

"Well where do we go from here and what do we do" he asked.

_This is Lira Beret from Midgar's WWDT TV station. We are live in icicle where a dead husband and an unconscious but alive wife were found last night. The wife who is known as Mariah Garner was found in her own puddle of blood while her husband Michael Garner was found dead his throat ripped out._

Oh my God!! Tifa gasped, thats horrible.

"Turn it up" Cloud said. His heart going out to the wife. Knowing how he would feel if Tifa was taken from him in that manner.

_The police say that before she went into what seems to be a coma she told them that they were attacked by a woman. She claimed that the woman's name was Jenova..._

Everybody gasped in shock at this newfound news. Now they had a lead.

_Mariah is being held at the Saint Deirdre hospital located in Icicle inn. The doctors can tell that she was pregnant but unfortunately the life of the baby was not spared. More on this case later on. Back to you Jodi at the studio. This is Lira signing out._

With tears in her eyes Yuffie took off the TV and turned to Cloud. Cloud looked up and said

"we leave for icicle inn tomorrow. Everybody go to the Wall Market and gather up supplies and make sure to get some warm clothing".

When he stopped talking everybody got the clue and went to do as they were told.

As Sephiroth was thinking about what had transpired he was jerked out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and was met with Aquamarine blue eyes.

"We need to talk" Cloud said, removing his hand from Sephiroth's shoulder.

As the two took a seat at the bar neither of them looked at each other. Them both thinking about how awkward this was and what to say to start off the conversation. After about a minute Sephiroth sighed in anticipation

"What did you want to speak about Cloud?"

" A lot of things" Cloud said simply.

"Like what?" Sephiroth asked his curiosity building.

"Well first off I just wanted you to know that I forgave you ever since our final confrontation. I don't know but somehow I just knew that it wasn't you doing all those things, I mean... we were best friends. We laughed together we cried together we had our first beer together I mean we were inseparable. I knew that something HAD to be wrong when you...... started doing those things."

Sephiroth had o say that he was surprised. He expected Cloud to be mad... real mad.

"Cloud I never intended to hurt you, I promise you that. Things spun out of control so fast that I was unable to grasp what was happening until it was too late. That day when I mentioned Hojo wanted to see me for another injection, it was Jenova cells that he put into me. The shot made her presence stronger than ever and on out way on the mission I tried to give you any possible clue of what I was going through but there was no way. She talked about her plans to destroy us and the world and any time I interrupted or let my mind stray she....well lets just say it was better that I stayed focused."

Cloud shook his head in understanding, now that he was digging up memories that he wished would have stayed buried he recalled quite clearly that Sephiroth was in a foul mood that day. No matter what he did or said there was just no getting across to him.

They sat for another moment in silence and then Cloud turned to him.

"I sure am glad to hear that. It feels good to have you back."

Sephiroth was glad to hear that. It looked like he would be OK after all. He was so scared to face Cloud, that now he felt silly for not putting enough faith in him. Jenova had screwed with his mind once but swore that he wouldn't let her do it again. The last day and a half seemed to be the longest that he ever endured.

As the setting sun danced in the skies and played a array of colors over the bar top they were both silent. It wasn't the awkward silence that built unwanted tension in the atmosphere. It was the type of silence in which one could think about all that has ever happened and put it to rest at long last.

"I want you to know that we will always be friends, no matter what happens. I cant say that I know what the future holds for us Seph, but I know that I don't want to lose your friendship. I don't want to imagine what little tricks Jenova has up her sleeves but I can now sleep easy knowing that you were doing it against your will."

Cloud looked at him and smiled.

Sephiroth no longer needed to ask the question that had burned him ever since he returned. Cloud had just validated everything for him and if the world wasn't on the edge of turmoil he would take Cloud and go on a much needed vacation. To catch up, there were things he needed to know and things he wanted to tell Cloud. But nothing could have been more perfect at the moment, he had his best friend back.

And so it was. Cloud and Sephiroth talked late into the night their joyous laughter surprising everyone within the bar. They talked about the past, present(mostly for cloud), and future and all the things that they didn't say before was said that night., or as much as they could before the natural laws of nature took effect and sleep called them both. The warm breeze that blew through the windows caressed their faces and with a final hand shake they each retired to their rooms, sleep came and for once was a peaceful experience that wasn't plagued with ghosts and demons from a past neither wished to remember. This night hearts had been mended and a fortified friendship stood ready to face a new day.


	6. Early Morning Encounter

Hey Guys, sorry for the late update. But I AM a college student. Lol. I had a few Homework assignments due and a test to prepare for. I will try to update more often. I am going to put in extra this weekend.

Chapter 6: Early Morning Encounter

Conflicting thoughts were running through her mind as she lay in her bed, there was no more sleep to come. There was an uncomfortable silence in the house, she never felt this way before, not while having all her friends around her. The night before every one had turned in early, there was not a soul at the bar past 1:00am. That was strange, sleep was usually at the bottom of the list when it came to AVALANCHE. She couldn't blame them though, yesterday was by far the strangest day any one of them had ever had. Throughout their recent journeys they had seen more than a fair share of strange but the resurrection of Aeris and...Sephiroth had taken the cake. As usual she was the first to get up and from the even breaths throughout the house she could tell that everyone else was sleeping. After all it was only eight in the morning and nobody else lay awake with thoughts on their minds of a house, with kids, and a husband that she would never have. It was only her, she was sure of it. A sudden movement next to her turned her head to the right and a small smile creeped onto her face as she saw Yuffie with a du-rag on, and her mouth hanging wide open, she couldn't even get annoyed or disgusted at the fact that there was a large and growing wet spot on her favorite bed set. She chuckled lightly at the memory of the night before when Yuffie had fought valiantly against Aeris to have the spot next to Tifa. After a while Yuffie conceded and offered the spot to the once deceased, now reborn flower girl. Aeris always looking for a way to make everyone happy suggested that they all sleep in the bed and after a couple of unsuccessful attempts and Yuffie falling out the bed, Aeris willingly gave up the spot and retired to the guest room with a warm smile. Tifa looked at the young ninja a bit longer, she was the sister that Tifa never had. After laying in the uncomfortable silence for a few more minutes she decided that she had better get up and at least get breakfast started before it was too late. She she easily slid herself off the bed and quietly made her way to the bathroom. After a quick shower she threw on her robe and entered the living room.

She saw heads and limbs sprawled all over the place, the whole of AVALANCHE, well mostly the guys and the big furry lion were all over. There seemed to be no kind of order, wherever they fell asleep thats where they stayed. She had to try really hard not to step on any of them. As she made her way through the jungle of bodies, of a sudden she felt like she was being watched. She turned her head slightly and even through there early morning darkness and all the lights in the house being off she saw them. She saw those two bright blood red eyes watching her. Vincent. She smiled a little because with his enhanced senses she knew he could see every detail on her face even though the house was shrouded in darkness. She waved a hand in greeting and she saw the two red orbs go down and up as he nodded his acknowledgement. She turned around and returned to her task of picking her way to the kitchen. She finally reached the steps to the kitchen she was surprised to see a soft glow coming from the bottom of the steps, indicating that someone was in the kitchen. She didn't think that an intruder would be able to slip and the entire team wouldn't notice, yet she still braced herself in case she had to fight. She would not let any harm come to her friends. She silently tip toed to the bottom of the steps and peered into the kitchen. She was shocked at what she saw, her first instinct was to jump into battle but she calmed herself as she watched the cascade of silver hair and black leather jacket. Sephiroth was in the kitchen alone, he sat there drinking coffee. She must say that she was surprised at him being up like this, she thought she was the only early riser.

Sephiroth took a sip of his coffee and winced, he knew someone was there but didn't turn around to see who it was. He didn't want to chance scaring the person with a sudden movement. During his SOILDER training he had been taught to be aware of his surroundings and to notice in an instant when some one was near to him. He knew she was coming before her toe hit the first step. He must admit she had did a wonderful job in not making a sound as she proceeded down the steps but there was no matching his instincts. If he had been paying attention he was sure he would have noticed when she got out of bed. He sighed at his own freakness and decided to prepare himself to face Ms. Lockhart. He didn't need to think twice about that either, he smelt her as she made her way closer to him.

Tifa was at a crossroad here, she was pretty sure that he knew she was there, with the way her heart was beating, in the still and quiet house she knew he heard it. She was a woman of her word and she did mean to get to know this man as best as she could. With the way thing were looking and with the new adventure at hand it didn't look like they were going to be without his presence any time soon. They were alone, what better way to try and get to know him when no one was watching. How she wished Cloud was here to make this easier. With Cloud around her there was no limit to the things that she felt she could do. After deliberating a while longer she sucked in her breath and decided to stop being a wuss and make her way over to him. It was now or never. She walked to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup.

She inhaled the smell of the liquid as if to lend her courage and turned to face him.

"Good Morning Sephiroth" she said with as genuine a smile that she could muster.

"Morning", Sephiroth said lowly. "Looks like you couldn't sleep last night either "he said attempting conversation, before sipping on his coffee and wincing again at the horrible taste.

He had made it himself and the results weren't too good. He had been down in the kitchen for a few hours now. Not really doing anything but thinking about the upcoming day. It didn't seem as dreary as he would have thought. His SOILDER training has bested him once again and he was up way before he needed to be. He to lay quiet and contemplating feeling very uncomfortable lying down and not sleeping. He had willed himself back to sleep and managed to squeeze out another half hour before getting up and dressing. He was given one of the guest rooms in the house, while everyone else chose to sleep on the living room floor. Nobody wanted to share a room with a mass murderer. He had shook his head at the thought and decided to head to the kitchen. While there it was like exploring a new land for the first time, everything looked completely foreign to him. Thank Gaia someone had left the coffee on the counter and he was pretty sure he knew how to operate the coffee machine, it couldn't be that hard. The end results to his little experiment didn't come out as he planned but he decided to drink it anyway. He would just throw the rest out before anybody came down. Things hadn't worked out the way he hoped Tifa came down early.

She saw him wince at the taste of his own mug and stared down into hers. A small smile pulled at her lips at the thought of the great and all mighty General Sephiroth making a mug of coffee. Sephiroth saw her smile and before he could stop himself asked her:

"Hey...whats so funny?" he added a smile of his own just to show it was in no way intended to be a hostile question.

With wide eyes Tifa looked over to him and her smiled widened. She couldn't help it though. Her mind was alternating between memories of Cloud with her pink apron on while fooling around in the kitchen and Sephiroth making coffee with the very same apron on. Finally a soft chuckle made its way past her lips and she looked up.

"Oh nothing, just remembering something. Nothing serious" she said

"Well I appreciate a good joke as well" Sephiroth replied.

Tifa looked away slightly embarrassed, how could she tell him that she was laughing at him. How could she tell him she was picturing him in a pink apron in front of the coffee maker. She tried to think of a suitable substitute but couldn't find one. She would have to sacrifice Cloud. He wouldn't mind, she hoped he didn't. It wasn't exactly his favorite moment in history and he turned a noticeable shade of red whenever she brought it up. She looked back at him, and moved closer to the table he was sitting on.

"Well, there was this time when I put Cloud up to making breakfast for the both of us. It was on a day much like today, I had a little cold and he was determined to make me breakfast in bed, but I refused to let him burn down the bar so I said I would sit in the kitchen and watch. Well he agreed and by the time I got down to the kitchen lets just say he was wearing that" she pointed to the pink apron hanging on the coat rack by the door.

She chuckled again as she leaned back on her own counter and studied Sephiroth's face. After he turned to look at the apron on the wall, when he next looked at her he had the biggest grin on his face. Her breath was caught in her throat. She had never seen him look so amused, he looked like a little boy who had just been let in on the details of a very mischievous plan. Her first thought was that he was extremely handsome when he smiled. It was refreshing after seeing him with a stern face all the time, not smiling, not frowning, but hostile and stern. Maybe she could let him on the second part of her joke. Her heart hammered in her chest as she began.

" And then after realizing that it was you who made the coffee" she brought her voice down lower " I pictured you in the very same one" she laughed even though her heart was racing out of control.

The grin disappeared and transformed into a throaty laugh.

" Well it tastes damn good" he said before taking a long, long, long sip then immediately spitting it out afterwards.

This caused Tifa to laugh all the harder and caused Sephiroth to bow his head and hold his stomach.

I'm laughing with Sephiroth Tifa thought to herself. Maybe this isn't so bad she thought as tears of mirth ran down her face.

"Lets take a taste" she said and put her cup to her lips, all this time she had been standing there with the cup and hadn't even tasted it. When the coffee touched her tongue she reeled back in disgust.

"You forgot the main ingredient" she said stifling her laughter.

"And what might that be" Sephiroth said amused.

" The sugar" Tifa said plainly.

"No I put that in" he said getting up to go to one of the shelves and pulling down a bottle of white sandy substance.

Tifa couldn't hold it any more. She burst out laughing her stomach hurting her because Sephiroth's "sugar" was really salt. Sephiroth turned the bottle around at her outburst and finally saw it. He hung his head in mock shame and laughed.

Cloud must say that he was quite surprised. As he walked downstairs to the bar he heard laughter. Both of the laughs were familiar to him. One was Tifa's for sure and the other one was...Sephiroth's. other than being surprised he was quite happy. His two best friends that at one time hated each other were laughing together. after what had happened between them one would think that the feat was impossible. He walked into the kitchen and they immediately saw him.

"Morning Cloud" Sephiroth said ruffling his hair before taking his seat again.

Tifa approached cloud with a smile on her face and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek cloud was surprised and so was Tifa but they kept it to them selves.

As Cloud sat down, Tifa asked: "what do you guys want for breakfast?"

"Bacon and eggs with a toasted jelly bagel" They said in unison.

"Just like in SOILDER" Sephiroth said smiling

"Yea" Cloud agreed "but those chefs don't have anything on Teef" Cloud said laughing.

Tifa was on it immediately. While the eggs were on the frying pan Aeris came downstairs and was happy to see that Cloud, Tifa and Sephiroth were all talking and making small talk as breakfast was being prepared.

" Good Morning" she said cheerfully.

After receiving good morning from the other 3 she took a seat next to Sephiroth and told Tifa that she would have what the other two were.

"So Cloud, what do you plan on doing when we get to icicle inn". Tifa asked

Cloud thought for a moment.

"Well I wanted to talk to Mariah but it seems like I won't be able too, being that she is in a coma and all" he said biting into his bagel.

"But I think I may have a solution for that" Aeris spoke up

Everyone turned to her and she went on.

" Well remember when we were in Wutai and Yuffie was fighting for the Leviathan-Materia. Well--"

"Yea, Yea, Yea. And I fainted and was unconscious" came a voice from the stairwell.

Yuffie came into the kitchen in her pajamas and sat at the table obviously still sleepy.

"Don't you people know that there are others sleeping in this house. You guys talk TOO LOUD!"

Everybody started laughing and Yuffie just sighed and put her head down.

" Like I was saying" Aeris said, "while she was unconscious I used Healing Wind to bring her back."

" But she is not unconscious. She is in a coma" Tifa cut in.

"I know Aeris said but she has only been like that for less than 24 hours so maybe...just maybe if I use it there is a chance that she can come back...maybe."

Everyone turned to Cloud.

"Well at least we have a plan" Cloud spoke up. "After breakfast we are going to Icicle Inn".

They all agreed and returned to their meals.


	7. Friend or Foe

Chapter 7: Friend or Foe

After breakfast and various complaints from Yuffie about boarding the High-wind. They were all up and ready to go. The way Yuffie saw it was that all together they had 9 gold chocobos plus the rare and never heard of black and silver chocobo that could do everything the gold could twice as fast and could fly short distances. Cloud had stumbled upon this after they had returned from the fight with meteor and holy. The bird was just sitting in the stables. At first he and Tifa thought it to be hostile but when it spotted them, it ran up to Cloud as if he had breed it and raised it from birth. They studied it and the only conclusion they came too was that it was once a regular chocobo and had underwent some strange transformation. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, a silver and black bird (silver beak and every other feather is silver and then black: goes in a pattern. Use your imagination.) Cloud adored it and it adored him. Yuffie wanted to use the birds because this way they could get there faster, it would be less danger, and she could avoid her motion-sickness. But Cid would not have it. They ended up bringing the birds with them. How Red was going to ride one was beyond any body's comprehension. But that was a bridge that they would cross if the need be that the chocobos had to be ridden. Once in the air everybody went his or her separate ways. Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Cid on the front deck trying to teach Cloud and Barret how to pilot the ship while Tifa watched at a distance at their confusion, with a smile. Red went to once of the rooms to rest, Yuffie went to her usual vomiting station, and Vincent went to the Lower deck to be in the shadows lost in his thoughts. The only people that didn't have usual spots were Aeris and Sephiroth. So they decided to go hang out in the open. On the top where they could see everything.

_The black winged angel must learn to fly_

_And bring the golden one to the sky_

_In order to stop our most doomed fate_

_Each must find their long lost mate_

_The mate themselves have might power_

_Which will be used to breach the enemy's tower._

Hmmm..................

Vincent was lost. His mind went in all directions he just couldn't figure out what this was supposed to mean.

_Well "I" know one thing _chaos said from Vincent's mind.

" And what might that be" Vincent said plainly.

_I know that this reede is meant for 4 of the people in your group. _Vincent's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh really" he said in his usual monotone voice his face betraying nothing of which he really felt.

This caused Chaos to shift uncomfortably in Vincent's mind. Vincent smiled at this and from within his mind urged the demon within to continue.

_Think about it Vincent, _he said calmly. _The reede says that two must find long lost mates and two must learn to fly._

" I doubt it" Vincent said unusually calm.

This enraged Chaos and if his eyes were visible at the moment Vincent's glare would not have been able been able to match.

_Fool Human! _He spat and was gone.

This didn't worry Vincent much. They always had arguments like this and Vincent knew he would be back sooner or later. Preferably later.

If only Lucrecia.........was here he thought.

Lucrecia...

If the walls in the lower deck could talk. They would tell the story of a man whose heart has been broken. They would talk about all the tears that he has shed because his love was snatched from him so brutally. They would talk of Lucrecia's beauty and grace. They would talk about how she would never walk the face of this Earth again because her life was ended early.

Only if..the walls could talk...

Golden brown locks did a dance with the wind as she stood there on the open deck of the High-wind watching the landscape go by. He was mesmerized. He didn't want to admit it but he was in a trance as he looked at her standing there. Her hair in a pony tail hanging down with out her usual braid. Her hair whirling all around her as if she was the goddess of the wind and she commanded it to do her bidding.

Aeris felt eyes on her and turned around to see Sephiroth looking at her. She must say she thought that he was on the other side of the railing because he didn't want to be bothered. But she had turned around to see him staring at her, with something in his eyes that only her ex boyfriend Zack had in his eyes. She turned away blushing, she didn't want him to see her cheeks flush. _Why is my heart racing so fast_ she thought, _this is Sephiroth!_ She ignored the feeling and blamed it on the height that they were flying at. After a moment she decided to call him over and start a conversation. They were the only two that was on the open deck any way.

"Hey Sephiroth" she said lightly. "Come stand over here with me I want to talk to you".

He approached her very slowly, afraid that if he moved to fast she might disappear. When he reached her side she looked up and gave him a friendly smile.

"Its quite beautiful isn't it?" She said as they passed over the open fields near the chocobo farm.

They spotted a mother and father chocobo training their newborn how to walk. After the sight of the family was no longer visible Sephiroth nodded his head in agreement to Aeris' last statement.

"So what do you plan on doing when we finally encounter Jenova?" Aeris asked.

Sephiroth considered this for a moment. He had never really thought about that before.

"Well" he started..."I will probably ask her some questions" he said.

"I want to know why she made me do what I did. I have never told anyone this before, but I feel like I owe you this much. You were the one after all who gave the monster a second chance. While she was controlling me she would give me partial control over my mind. It was very hard for me" he confessed.

"Watching my self kill all of those innocent people and not being able to stop my self. I want to know why she did it to me. I have never done anything to harm her or even offend her in anyway. While I was still a young child probably about 10 years old. I always had a voice in my mind telling me to do all kinds of evil things. After a few years of dealing with Hojo's madness, I came to the conclusion that it was Jenova".

Aeris was on the verge of crying. For this one time she cursed her compassionate heart. She didn't want Sephiroth to see her cry. She turned her head away from him and let the wind dry what had gathered in her eyes and turned back to him.

"My whole life I have been shunned by many. Feared by all, and ridiculed by most. I never once had a real friend until Cloud came along in his SOILDER training. A couple of months before Cloud came the Jenova cells inside me started to diminish. Leaving less and less with each passing day. I would hear her voice lower and lower and lower until one morning I got up and she just wasn't there. It was the same morning Cloud had started training with me. Cloud and I became so close so quick, he said that I was his number one role model and he wanted to be just like me. I took an immediate liking towards him because he respected me as a person, he wasn't afraid of me, and was always a good friend. Then on the day before we were to go through with _Operation: Nibelheim_ Hojo called me into his lab for a check up that was due months past."

She studied his face and what she saw was enough to make her lose her breath. At the mention of Hojo's name his whole face had changed, while he was speaking there was a look of remorse and confusion in his eyes. Now when she looked at him, when he began to speak of the professor he had a look of tightly controlled rage. She didn't even want to imagine the things he had suffered under the hands of the scientist. She too had been a victim of his madness. He had chased her for years and years, when he couldn't get her himself he then hired Shin-Ra's elite gang the Turks to get her. Eventually after a few more years of the chase she befriended the leader and they formed a bond. That was the only way she was able to avoid the labs for so long. But one day there was a change in command and she was captured, by the very same man she had called a friend. He apologized fiercely and said there was nothing that he could do about it. He did make a promise to keep an eye in her and eventually help her escape but she would have to sacrifice, just the same way he had sacrificed all those years. That was the first time she had came face to face with the mad scientist, and she had got a glimpse of the lust that burned in his eyes. She shook her self of the memories and returned her gaze to Sephiroth.

" When he took my blood test he almost had a heart attack. He realized that the Jenova cell percentage in my body was down to 12. He sent me off and told me to come back the next morning before I left. With the way he looked at me I knew when I saw him again it wouldn't be a nice. I told Cloud what was happening and he reassured me that it was nothing. That was another thing that I liked about him. He always had a positive attitude about everything. Anyway, the next morning I went to Hojo and he said nothing to me. He just pointed to a chair and I got the point. I sat down and he came over to me with a needle and told me to roll up my sleeves. _Cant have anything bad happening to my General now can I?_ He said before stabbing the needle into my vein and releasing the liquid that was inside. As soon as the liquid touched my veins it burned......real bad. I couldn't take anymore so I just allowed myself to pass out. I woke up 45 minutes later. When I got up he explained to me that he had injected me with more Jenova cells and that this time he had enhanced them in such a way that they would stay permanently. What he said hadn't really dawned on me until I was walking back toward my dorm and I heard a female voice calling my name saying she was back. I turned around to see this female only to find out I was the only one in the hallway. Then my worst fears were confirmed as I recognized the voice and she dropped me to my knees with her brain control. She told me that she saw everything that I did, and she wasn't too fond of my new best friend...Cloud. She said she would have done something sooner but she was to weak to do any significant damage. She told me that she would leave him be, right now but eventually she would make him go away. I wanted to tell Cloud so bad but when I tried she warned me and said that if I told him she would put me through so much pain that I would pass out and never to get up again. While on the way to Nibelheim she ranted and raved about what she was going to do and how I was part of her master plan and how she and I would rule the world together. I was quiet for the whole trip and Cloud left me alone because he knew how I could get."

He paused a while to look at her, this was by far the most detailed description he had given anyone. He knew the details of the story were not pretty but he just wanted someone to know what he was feeling. When she looked up at him she gave him a reassuring smile and he continued.

" When we got there and the mission was complete, she just took full control and before I knew it I was slashing and killing all the people in town. Then I set it ablaze with my enhanced mastered fire materia. I saw the pain in Cloud's eyes I saw the tears, I saw the look of someone who had been betrayed and all I could do was laugh like a crazy man. That night she took me to the Goblin Island and I cried while going through torture for each tear I shed. I cried for those people that I killed and I cried for..Cloud. I could have never faced him again. But when I went into the Northern Crater and he approached me Jenova gave me all control of my self and left me to die because I could not finish the task. Meteor had been destroyed because of you and she was going to the pits of hell where she belonged. Or that is where I thought she would have ended up."

As Aeris looked at him he shook with rage and there was a deep hatred mixed with a deep regret. She could not hold it any longer. Tears were streaming down her face and she did not trust her voice. She turned to him and he to her.

" I am so............so so sorry" she chocked. She gave him a quick hug and left the open deck sobs racking her body like never before. Where their skin had touched he felt a tingle. And when it was time to get off the ship a stunned Sephiroth was still standing there.

When everybody had exited the ship they were about 10 miles away from Icicle Inn. Cloud sighed to himself as he thought. Tifa noticed the distressed look on his face.

"Hey you, whats wrong" she asked

" We are going to have to end up taking the chocobos it looks" he said simply. "It was a good thing Yuffie suggested it"

"OK everybody" he spoke up, addressing the team "we have a change in plan. We are going to take the chocobos to Icicle Inn because I don't feel like walking through this 2-foot high snow.".

One by one the team members each looked down to where they were standing and realized that they were shin deep in snow.

As they were unloaded, the birds gave a soft wark happy to be on solid ground again.

"Excuse me Cloud". Red said curiously. "How am I going to get on this bird?"

Cloud smiled and looked at the biggest Gold chocobo that they had.

"Lets try" he said as he led red over to the bird. Cloud took the bird's head into his hands and looked into its eyes.

"You are not to be afraid because Red is a friend" he said to the bird.

He turned the bird's face towards Red and then back to his. The bird warked happily as if he understood and cloud helped red on. When Red was finally settled, he looked quite comical. The rein was in his mouth and he looked like a rug on a chocobo put there for warmth.

When everyone was perched upon their mounts, an idea struck him. He noticed that everybody was in a straight line. As he stood next to Zamia (his black and Silver chocobo) he said:

"The last one to reach Icicle Inn has to lick Jenova's as- "

"CLOUD!"Tifa yelled, smiling.

"Well you all got the point" he said.

Everybody but Cloud was already looking at each other. Each sharing the same thought.

"On-----/' before cloud could say The Mark Get set GO!

Everybody had already left him and there was nothing left but tracks in the snow. Cloud looked at Zamia and she looked at him. They shared a thought of their own. He jumped on top of her and with a little kick to the flanks she burst from 0 to 80 mph in 2 seconds. Then with another nudge to the flanks she picked up speed once again, and then they were airborne.

Tifa laughed hysterically. She and Marzion (her male gold chocobo) were in the lead by at least by 20 feet. She looked back and saw amazingly that Red was right behind her meaning he was in second place. _He catches on quick_ she laughed again. She smiled as she remembered what she did to Cloud. _That will teach him to make retarded jokes_ she thought.

Then she was shadowed from above for a brief second but by the time she looked up whatever it was, was gone.

When Tifa arrived at Icicle Inn she saw Zamia sitting there and Cloud sound asleep in his bedroll. She burst out laughing and fell off of Marzion. She was laughing so hard that tears were in her eyes. When the rest of the team arrived Cid ending up in last place, they saw her there. On the ground in the snow laughing. Then they saw Cloud and realized that the black blur that they saw was him. He got up, scratched himself, rubbed his eyes and looked at them like he hadn't seen them in ages.

"Where have you guys been?" he said completely serious.

This just caused Tifa to laugh all the harder. Cloud finally broke his act and took a bow. Receiving an applause from his comrades.

" Damn!" Cid yelled "this bird is pissing me off". He turned to his chocobo and gave it a smack across the neck.

The bird turned around completely furious and began to peck at Cid's hair, face, and neck. Everybody laughed at him and Cloud finally offered the bird a green, which it ran too but not before giving Cid 2 more plucks.

When all was said and done and the team was ready to go and they headed into Icicle Inn. They wasted no time at all and went straight to the hospital. At the entrance they stopped.

"We will have to split into 2 groups" Cloud said. "One group will go into town and ask around for Jenova and the other group will go into the hospital and see if we can help with Mariah.//'

As Cloud stood in front of his team he looked around and analyzed them. He thought about their different traits and their different characteristics. This was an important part of being the leader of a group. For example with Yuffie's immaturity he would not bring her into a hospital where she would no doubtlessly be bored and in the end causing more trouble than was needed. He knew she would much rather prefer doing the field work, so while making being the leader sound all well and good, there were responsibilities that came with it.

When Cloud had gotten his mind straight and everything in order he called for their attention and spoke in a clear voice.

"The group going into the hospital will be Tifa, Aeris, Sephiroth, and I as the leader. And the rest of you will go into town and ask around for any clues on Jenova with Red as the leader."

Red nodded his head in acceptance at the task and sat back down. With a nod of agreement from all of his teammates they all said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Cloud and his group headed into the hospital and went straight to the front.

"Um...excuse me, could you please direct me to Miss Garner's room". He asked the nurse politely

OH, you guys are here to see Mariah, its so good to see that there are still a few good souls in the world today. I don't know who would have the guts to do such a thing in a city like ours. I know we are a quiet neighborhood, but nothing like this has ever happened before. Ever since her and her husbamd moved in next door to me I have never had a problem with them. I wonder any one would do this. Its so sad...so so sad." with that she turned away from them and dabbed her tissue at her eyes. "Fourth floor down the hall room 456" she said with out looking at them.

Tifa was about to walk away, but she stretched over the counter and put a reassuring hand on the nurse's shoulder. The nurse a little bit startled at the hand that was now touching her looked up and when she saw the compassion on Tifa's face, smiled a sad smile.

"It really is sad" Tifa replied taking her hand back. "We are from Midgar and we heard what happened on the news and we thought we would come to visit. We are going to do everything that we can to help her"

"Well is there is anything I can do, you guys just let me know" the nurse said.

Aeris spoke up."You said you lived right next door to them?"

"Yes, thats correct. I lived there for 50 years and those two had only been my neighbors for about 7 months." the nurse looked down at something she was writing and then focused on Aeris.

"Were you home when the....incident occurred?" Aeris prodded.

"Unfortunately not, the night when everything happened I was working a double here and I caught a glimpse of the body that they were rushing in, a ghastly sight. I didn't know it was Mariah until the doctors handed me her paper work." she turned away and focused on something that wasn't there. Obviously trying not to cry at the memory.

Aeris looked at her again.

"Well thanks for all your help, we will do our best".

This brought a small smile to the nurse's face and she nodded as they walked away.

"What a nice bunch of people" she said to herself as she looked at the TV. There happened to be a commercial being shown about the Planet's Saviors and Cloud and Tifa's faces were on the screen.

The nurse breathed sharply and snapped her head in the direction in which the group had gone. She didn't see them, but she did hear the soft "ding" of the elevator starting its ascent to the fourth floor.

The group boarded and followed the instructions that they were given, they got off on the fourth floor. While they were walking in the corridors they took in everything, the whole place was spotless white. As they walked, they walked with caution, there very presence seemed to be an intrusion on the pristine white. They walked easy, as if not to disturb the peace and calm that this place seemed to hold. All the while Aeris was praying to the planet. Asking for guidance and the words to say so that she could be able to awaken her powers and heal this woman. Deep down inside they were all hoping that Aeris would be able to help this lady.

They were finally in front of room 456 and they all stood their each pondering the same thought:

_This better work, please let it work_.

Cloud knocked on the door but then remembered that she was unconscious and pushed open. As they entered the room they could hear the beep of the monitor that was keeping her heart rate, and the quiet hum of the machinery They stepped up to her bed and Tifa had to fight back tears because of the condition that she was in. She had bruises that were black and blue, she had two black eyes and she looked broken and battered. Her head was wrapped in a bandage and her arms were shredded from what appeared to be glass shards. Sher neck was in a brace and she had multiple tubes in her face and and an IV in her arm. Cloud studied her for a minute and then turned to Aeris who was crying freely not afraid to show her emotions for the so badly injured woman lying in front of her.

Cloud put a reassuring hand on her back and urged her to continue. _The faster we do this, the more likely the chance of her survival _Aeris thought. She stepped up to the bed placed her hand on Mariah's for head and closed her eyes. She was silent for a while and then she spoke in a low voice.

"Guardian of the life forces. I call upon you for your help..."

Red led his group into the heart of the town were it was quite busy. He turned to them and said: "Everybody split up and meet back here in 20 minutes."

As everybody else went their own separate ways Vincent went to a house that seemed to be totally out of place. He somehow felt attached to the house, it so reminded him of himself....of his coffin. So that is the first place that he went. He knocked on the door softly...no reply. He knocked a bit more forcefully and an old woman appeared behind the screen.

"Well hello there young man" she said opening the door. "How may I help you?" Vincent looked her up and down and then smiled softly.

_Young man? _He thought, that was classic. He might look the part of a 27 year old but in all reality he was almost 50. He would play the part of a 27 year old for all eternity, that was his sin. The sweet tinge of death would always evade him like a morsel of meat on a long stick. Always so close that he could smell, but never taste. If he had his Lucrecia with him then maybe time would slip into oblivion. But he was alone and thats how he would stay. He turned his attention back to the woman at the door. She was looking at him funny, he still hadn't answered her question.

"I would like to ask you a couple of questions about what happened last night" he said lowly.

"You mean with that Jenova character" she said flatly.

"Yes" he replied, just as flat but a smirk playing on the edges of his mouth. He liked her.

"Well come on in" she said. "I just baked some cookies and I think the person you would like to talk to is my husband not me."

She looked around to make sure no one was listening. Then she whispered in a low voice.

"He was coming home late that same night that Michael was killed and he had a little run in with you know who."

Vincent nodded his head in understanding and stepped inside the cozy little house. Great full to be out of the cold. She led him to the kitchen and he sat in a chair. Vincent looked around the house and saw that it was falling apart. In their kitchen, part of the roof was caving in and the paint... what ever was left of it was peeling. Their stove was centuries old and they had an icebox. Not a proper fridge. She laid out the cookies and went out saying something about calling her husband. Vincent sat there staring at the cookies.

_I Might as well_ he thought.

He picked one up and bit into it. Before he knew it he had devoured 8 cookies, smiling lightly to himself he looked over his shoulder as he heard foot steps coming down the stairs and a low muttering. When the woman came down she came with a man that looked to be about in his mid 50s. he looked like he had just seen a ghost. My name is Herda and this is my husband Lincoln. The old man sat down and stared at Vincent. His stare was a hard cold and empty one. They sat there for a while, just staring at each other. Neither saying anything. This man looked Vincent right in the eye as if threatening to see his very soul. No one dared look at Vincent that way, not even Cloud as the team's leader had the nerve to watch him directly in the eye. Vincent must say that he was impressed. He turned his glare up just a notch. From Lincoln's point of view it looked like Vincent's eyes got even redder and malice creeped into them. He finally looked away and Vincent smiled. He liked this man also. All this time Herda had been putting more cookies in the oven and was completely oblivious to the contest of manhood that had just transpired. Vincent looked to the old woman as she came to the table.

"There is a story for the telling" Vincent said turning back to the old man.

Lincoln just nodded his head and continued to look lost. Vincent checked the time and saw that he had 2 minutes to get back to the meeting place. He stood up.

"Where are you going?" Herda asked disappointed that their new guest was leaving so soon.

" I will be back he said.. I have a few friends with me, if you don't mind."

She shook her head, her smile returning and quickly went to the stove.

"Don't be silly!! Of course its fine. No one ever comes to this house to check on us or to even say hi, its good to have visitors again" she whispered with a smile. "bring as much as you can manage, I will have cookies for everyone!"

As she opened here eyes all she felt was an immense rush of relief. But she couldn't see. Everything was just white to her. So blurry. She tried to move her hands but realized that it caused her too much pain. She turned her head to the side and could barely make out the figures that were standing next to her. Mariah just thought that they were pictures on the wall.

_Where am I ?_she thought to her self. But then her memories washed over her like a tidal wave. She remembered Michael and that bitch Jenova. She knew that her baby was dead and she knew that Michael had suffered the same fate. Then she heard a voice. A soft female voice. She turned to the sound and then realized that what she thought were pictures were actually people. Have they come to finish me off she thought. Her heart raced but then slowed down when she realized that she really had nothing to live for. She and Michael had planned on starting a family weapon business. They were about to launch it next week. But then Jenova came and messed up everything. She tried to say something but nothing came out. She then realized that she was in a bed and from the faint beeping sound she figured that she was in the hospital, she knew she was pretty banged up, but she didn't know the full extent of her injuries. _It must be bad._ She thought. She tried to say something but nothing came out. She tried again but still to no avail. Then she let out a soft moan, to her surprise and to everybody else's.

Everybody heard the soft moan and opened their eyes. They were all in deep concentration. Aeris needed help because she realized that Mariah was a little bit too far-gone. They all crowded around her Aeris and Cloud on one side Sephiroth and Tifa on the other.

"Are you alright Mariah?" she heard someone ask.

She moaned softly again, she was trying to say 'just finish me off'', but it came out as a sorrowful moan.

Tifa took the cup of tea that the nurse had brought for her and handed it to Aeris. Aeris propped Mariah's head up a little and then brought the cup to her lips. Mariah saw the cup coming and accepted that this was what was going to finish her off. She opened her mouth great fully and accepted the liquid. After a while she realized that it was tea and it had loosened her voice a little.

_Why are they helping me?_ she thought.

"Are you going to kill me?" She whispered to them.

She didn't want to sound so desperate but she needed to know.

Aeris spoke again. "Of course not" she said with compassion in her voice.

To Mariah she sounded genuine but she would just play along with their game.

" I cant see," Mariah said. There was a male voice now.

"Why don't you use a Regen spell", Cloud said, sure that his plan would work.

_Regen!_ Mariah thought. What the hell is going on here. These were materia wielders. And apparently of great talent, she once had a cure materia but it never went past the first level. For them to have one of Regen they had to be strong. A pang of fear hit her as she felt the healing power of the spell take effect, within a few seconds the once blurry shapes now took form and within another few minutes she was able tot ell that there were four uninvited people in her room. Eventually she felt re-energized and ready to get up. The thing is that she didn't want too. When next she opened her eyes it was like she had 20/20 vision. She saw everything clearly and perfect. When she looked at her visitors. She saw that there were 2 makes and 2 females. She sat up in her bed very slowly. The Regen still healing her muscles. She noticed the 2 females first. One of them was about 5'4 had chestnut brown hair, that was pulled into a ponytail that reached down to her bottom and she was fair skinned. The most outstanding thing that she saw about her was her eyes. Her eyes were like 2 big pools of emerald green. She had two bangs coming down on either side of her face and she was a very beautiful girl. The other one was a little bit paler than she but had long dark brown hair that had to be at least down to her feet. How long did it take to grow that she wondered. This next female was very curvaceous and had pretty wine colored amber eyes. She was about 5'8 and was very attractive. Then her attention turned to the males. The first one that she noticed was about 5'11 and had spiky blond hair. He had steel icy blue eyes and the same complexion as the first girl. He was a good-looking man he reminded her of her own Michael. When she turned to the last one her heart skipped a beat. In her very room was the greatest General that ever lived. It was Sephiroth. She knew it had to be him. She heard that he killed countless numbers of people in the war. She had always wanted to meet him. Now that he was here she was excited but she was also terrified. She had heard rumors about this man who had gone insane and almost destroyed the world. But when she looked at him now he didn't look insane he looked cute to her as a matter of fact.

"What do you guys want?" she asked.

"My name is Cloud and we are here just to ask you a couple of questions. From the news we saw that Jenova attacked you and your husband. So we just wanted to ask a couple of questions that might help us on our mission. But first let us introduce ourselves. My name is Cloud, this is Aeris, this is Tifa, a this is--- "

"General Sephiroth" she cut in.

" Yes" Cloud said not surprised the least.

"We would like to tell you our story and would appreciate it if you listen to us."

With a slight nod from Mariah, Cloud gave Aeris the floor and the story began...

When Vincent got back to the town's entrance the team was waiting for him. As he got closer he heard Cid and Barret cursing about how this damn town was so useless and how they couldn't find a damn elephant in it if it was standing right behind them. When they saw Vincent, Red approached him with curious eyes.

"Find anything?" He asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes." Vincent said. "I found an old man that had a run in with Jenova before she left town."

Red raised his head and looked into Vincent's eyes with his one.

"What happened?" He asked.

"It seems like while Jenova was leaving town she got a hold of him and terrorized him a little."

Red shook his head in disgust.

"Well we should go to the hospital and tell Cloud what's going on."

They turned around and headed in the direction of the hospital. All the while Barret and Cid swearing that it was too cold.

Mariah sat back into her hospital bed and looked around her. Aeris had finished telling her story and she was taking it all in. It seemed to her that these people were doing some good and they were against Jenova and not with her.

"Well what was the questions you wanted to ask me Cloud?" she asked looking at him.

"Did Jenova say anything to you before she left? Meaning did she say where she was headed toward next." Cloud asked stepping forward at the mention of his name.

Mariah thought for a moment. She looked up with sorrow clear in her violet-purple yes.

"Why cant I think of what the hell that bitch said," she thought out loud.

Tifa noticed the sorrowful look on Mariah's face and walked over to the bed and placed a soothing hand on the woman's back.

"Its OK" she said carefully. "You've been through a lot last night and your mind is probably still very clouded". Mariah nodded great-fully and smiled.

Just then the rest of the team came into the room, and Mariah grabbed hold of Tifa's hand and started to plead for Tifa not to let Jenova's friends take her. Tifa rubbed her back gently to try to calm her down but she would not have it.

"Don't LET THEM TAKE ME," she bawled.

Cid who was the first one to step into the room was taken aback by the screaming woman. "What the hell is her freakin problem?" he yelled.

Tifa turned Mariah's face toward hers and looked into her eyes.

"Mariah they are our friends we are AVALANCHE. They are not going to hurt you. We wont allow it."

Mariah looked at her and pulled her into a hug and sobbed on her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. She wept. I thought that Jenova's lackeys were coming to get me again".

Tifa had to fight back tears of her own. Jenova had put this woman through hell. After she had somewhat calmed down. She turned to Cid with red blotchy eyes and a tear streaked face and mouthed her apology, while fresh tears fell. The gruff pilot looked at her and his heart melted. He looked at her and didn't even know what was wrong but he had a feeling it was bad. He scratched the back of his head and shuffled his feet a habit he picked up from Cloud.

"Aw... its nuthin, I woulda screamed too if I saw me". This caused Mariah to laugh and Cid felt relieved at her laughter.

Cloud stepped to her bed again and introduced the rest of the team that had filed into the room during the commotion.

"This is Red", he said pointing to the feline like animal. Mariah looked at him in wonder.

"Nice to meet you" she said.

"The pleasure is mine ma'am," he said politely.

Her head snapped back to him and she was even further impressed with the creature. She was pulled out of her thoughts at the sound of Cloud's voice introducing the dark man in the corner.

"This is Vincent Valentine" she nodded her head toward him and he did the same.

"This is Barret Wallace and Cid Highwind the two foul mouthed bastards of the group," Cloud said as he pointed towards the two who were having a silent argument.

Barret waved his good arm and Cid bowed deeply. As Mariah studied the big black man she noticed that he had one good arm and one arm that seemed to have a gun grafted into it. When she was younger she had visited Corel and heard her grandmother talking about a man with a gun for an arm. At the time she just thought that the old hag was going senile but now she saw that this was the man that truly had a gun for an arm. She then turned her head toward who seemed to be the youngest member of the group. "Oh... and this is Yuffie Kissagri daughter of Lord Godo of Wutai".

"Behaagde ten slotte om uw aquaintense mijn dame te ontmoeten" she said in the ancient Wuitaneese tongue.

Yuffie's eyes widened as did everybody else's. "You are from Wutai, she said more of a statement not a question. Dat is, vervloekt zo koel". Mariah smiled to herself as did Yuffie while Barret muttered under his breath.

Vincent broke the silence that lingered after the small reunion with a cough and turned to Cloud.

"I found a couple and the husband had a run in with Jenova before she left town. I think that we should have a talk with them." Cloud nodded his agreement and turned to Mariah.

"We are very sorry for what happened to you and we will hunt Jenova down and bring her to her knees for what she has done. He turned to Tifa. "Can u please get Reeve on the phone and tell him to wire 20,000 gill to Mariah's account for the damages caused by Jenova. Also tell him to send the keys to our first apartment in Sector 4 so she could move into it".

He turned to Mariah as Tifa called Reeve and she was crying again.

"I hope that this is enough for you. The courtesy of AVALANCHE." She looked into his eyes and bowed her head.

"I will make a trade", she said. "You can keep all your things but let me join you on this quest. The only way that I can ever feel any better is for me to go back into the outside world and have part in the bringing down of Jenova".

Cloud completely understood. He looked her up and down and then broke into a grin. "Sure you can come, but under one condition"

"Anything" she said.

Cloud paused and then looked at her.

"You have to agree to keep the apartment and the money and you have to allow me to give you 500 gill so you and the girls could go shopping for your gear, we do have a long journey ahead of us."

Mariah smiled. She didn't even know this man like that but yet she felt safe with him already.

"Herda said that we could come anytime" Vincent said. The team nodded their heads and left for Mariah to get her clothes on and get ready to go. While the team was filing out Aeris felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Mariah. "Do you think that you can do that Healing magic again, my muscles need it". Aeris smiled and leaned in closer

"I've got something even better"

with that she conjured a Cure 3 spell, and Mariah moaned in relief. .

After Mariah had gone shopping and Cid went back with the luggage to the Highwind, the team and their new edition were knocking on Herda's door.

Herda came to the door and saw Vincent and let him in with his group of friends. She led them to the Living Room where they found cookies and juice waiting for them. They all sat down and Herda and an elderly man that seemed to be her husband sat down also. Vincent spoke up:

"These are my friends that I told you about and we just want to ask Lincoln some questions".

Lincoln just looked at them and sighed. "What kind of relationship do you have with that beast of a woman?"

"None what-so-ever" Cloud said "she is trying to destroy the planet again and we need to stop her before things get worst, we just came here to ask you what happened last night when she left town. Your wife said that you had an encounter with her and you were babbling things in your sleep". Lincoln looked up at her and she looked away.

Sephiroth smiled at this and refocused on what was being said.

"Well we just want to know what she told you and if she did tell you anything where was she going and what were her plans".

Lincoln closed his eyes and tried to recap everything that happened. It was not something that he really wanted to think about. This monster had literally held him in the air by his throat and talked to him about her vicious plans and how she had to get her son back and how she will destroy his friends and all sort of garbage. She also injected him with something through one of her tentacles and said that they will always be a part of each other. At that moment all of that garbage was swirling his in his mind as it did every night. She had torn his mind apart, how was an old man supposed to deal with something like this. Anytime he attempted to talk about it he would get headaches that felt like 6 million jackhammers pounding into his skull. He would just give up and let the pain fade. But not today he would not let her control him anymore, he would tell these youngsters what they needed to know pain or no pain. He could already feel the familiar feeling of the pressure building in his head. _Better get this over with quickly he thought_.

"Ask me what you want but make it quick", he whispered. "She has some mental powers over me after she injected me with what seemed to be her own blood. Please hurry he pleaded with his eyes still closed. She has already started".

Cloud sat on the edge of his seat.

"Where is her next destination?" he asked. Lincoln opened one eye and then the other. His vision swam and the pain increased.

"She is headed toward Mideel to taint the life-stream with her blood. She said that if she could get sufficient amounts of her blood into the life-stream the planet's own blood will be tainted and she will be able to awaken the first protector: Omega-Weapon. She said it would take her most of the day today to get enough blood into the stream and she would get there by mid-morning. Its already 3:00 and you guys need to get over there".

Cloud nodded and with a wave of his hand signaled the rest of the team to leave. Cloud stood up and shook Herda's hand because Lincoln had seemed to faint and was breathing rather harshly.

"Thanks for everything Miss Herda and we will try our best to stop her".

With that Cloud exited not noticing Vincent still standing there. He stepped up to Herda and gave her a small key.

"What's this" she asked surprised.

"I see that your house is not in the best condition and winter is only getting worse so this is the key to my mansion in Nibleheim you can go and make yourselves at home there" she tried to protest but Vincent was not having it.

At that time Lincoln had just came into the hallway where they were, looking a bit dis-shelved. He saw the key in her hands.

"Vincent here is telling us to stay in his mansion in Nibleheim." She said. He looked up at Vincent and patted him on the back.

"Thanks son" he said and then disappeared into the kitchen.

"Enjoy it like it was your own, and ill be back as soon as possible. If the townspeople ask, just say that I sent you. I will call one of my close friends and he will come pick you up in a helicopter. I suggest that you leave all your clothes and take only the things that are most important to you we have plenty of stores and there is money in the safe that's there. I have enough money so you may spend as much as you need. If anything goes wrong just call me."

He pulled out an extra PHS that had been given to him while he was a Turk. It didn't make sense for him to inactivate it if he wasn't paying for it.

"I am on speed dial 1". She looked up at him and embraced him like he was her son.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and tucked the phone in her apron. Vincent called Reeve and when Herda came back he told her that the chopper would be here in 20 minutes. With all that said and done with a final goodbye Vincent left the house and caught up with the team.

Before they left town Mariah led them back to her old house. They went into the basement and they were all in awe at what they saw. It was a weapons shop with some materia. Mariah spread her hands and allowed them to take anything they needed. She in the meanwhile went to a closet that was locked. She unlocked it and reached into it and retrieved a black box with silver trimmings and Wutaineese writings and pictures of Dao-Chao engraved into it.

Every one noted her solemnest and gathered around the table where she had laid the box.

"this weapon was created by my father for me before he died. I have never used it before because it was to precious, but before he died he said to use it in only dire situations. I think that this crisis is deserving of such a weapon. It took my father 4 years to make it and he died only a week after he completed it."

She unlatched the locks on it and when she lifted the lid everyone gasped. It was a whip sword and the blade was about 4ft long. It consisted of 25 ivory links. Each link had diamond shards protruding out of it. The hilt of the whip sword was silver with black marble incarnations. The sword was priceless. On the top of the hilt there was a button that when pressed it would change the weapon to a sword or back to a whip depending on its current state. Mariah lifted the weapon out of its case and clutched it to her chest. This weapon was unique because her father taught her the easy way to kill an enemy with a whip sword. She would lash out with the whip and catch hold of an enemies' neck. She would then pull the enemy toward her and switch it back to the sword and with a quick slash downward the neck would be right off. And if the hide of the animal was to hard or the enemy somehow had some protection from their neck coming of the diamond shards in each ivory cut link would do terrible damage. The ivory cut links were also special because they were all cut to be double bladed. It was made with ivory but had a ½ inch of rock diamond stuck to the sides to serve as a blade. In between the diamond on either side there is a sharp piece of ivory protruding, to give it the effect of a triple blade.

After Mariah had retrieved her belt to hang the weapon in whip state on, they exited and sent Vincent to get the chocobos.

When all the chocobos were present Mariah rode double with Yuffie, insisting that her queen not bruise her hands on the reins. Yuffie being as lazy as she is agreed whole heartedly and enjoyed the free ride.

When everyone was ready they rode into the sunlight and out of town towards the ship, leaving tracks in the snow.


	8. Doubts and Fears,Gone Forever

_Chapter 8: Doubts and Fears? "Gone Forever"_

The crew boarded the airship and within minutes they were in the air set for a course toward Mideel. It would take them about an hour and a half to get there so everyone tried to settle their nerves and prepare for the battle that was coming up. They did not know what they would encounter in Mideel but they were on their toes in anticipation. The air was filled with a mixed feeling of anxiety and excitement, it had only been two weeks since they all battled side by side but once a warrior, always a warrior and the need to release the pent up stress of the most recent developments was screaming to be released.

Tifa headed to the kitchen in the airship and decided to make some lunch so that the team wouldn't be fighting on empty stomachs, and of course as a distraction to keep anyone from being nervous. She was thinking about what she wanted to prepare, preferably something light so they wouldn't be sluggish on the field. She was surprised when Mariah followed her to the kitchen, and was surprised even more when after seeing that Tifa retrieved a loaf of bread from the counter, washed her hands and started slicing it into pieces. Now Tifa wasn't one to ask for help, and she loved cooking so she was used to being alone in the kitchen. She couldn't tell Mariah that her help wasn't needed. She took this as a opportunity to get to know the newcomer better. Tifa looked over to her and they both shared a small smile.

"That's some weapon that you got there," Tifa said conversationally.

"It was my dad's greatest creation" Mariah sighed reminiscing. "Where did you learn to use that it? I have never in all my life seen something so unique. A whip and a sword. That's something that the world needs to see"

Mariah gave a small laugh. "Good ol' daddy did have a mind on him. He owned a weapons store in the days of his youth and the things his friends say that he created, were out of this world".

"How did he die?" Tifa asked curiously.

That hit home and she noticed that Mariah had stopped cutting the bread and her shoulders were trembling. Tifa immediately realized that she had crossed into personal territory and kicked her self mentally for her stupidity.

"Mariah…I am so sorry, I didn't mean—" "

No Tifa, Its alright. I just get a little emotional when it comes to my father and how he suffered. These tears are mixed. They are tears of joy and pain. When daddy fell sick he went through so much. Every night coughs would rack his body and eventually he would start to cough up blood. Each night his condition getting worse and worse. We even caught him one night getting up to work on my weapon. He was a determined man and we all just had to stay up with him while he worked. Each and everyday he just lost weight like water pouring out of a cup. Then after he completed the weapon, in a couple of weeks he died. It was hard for me to see him die because I know how hard he was trying to fight for life, and after all he went through, his life was just snatched away."

Tifa's eyes were misty and she had to take breaths to steady herself. For she to had lost a father and she still thought about him. A small smile crossed her features, it was ironic because just that same morning she was laughing and having coffee with her father's murderer. She immediately banished the thought, for Sephiroth was a changed man. She refocused on Mariah, standing at her side trying to calm herself. She put a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Its OK sweetie, let it out don't hold it back. It took me a while to stop being emotional towards my father's death too."

Mariah looked at her. "You lost yours?"

Tifa nodded her head. An image of her father came into her mind and she smiled.

"I really did love him, if there was a little girl that proved the phrase daddy's little princess, it was me".

Mariah laughed at that and returned to cutting the bread.

"But any way, how did this group come together?" Mariah questioned.

Tifa thought about this for a moment. Wanting to phrase her sentences just right.

"It all started when we were back in sector 7. We were all in my bar and we were talking about how much we all despised the Shin-Ra. Then one day we just got tired of talking and decided to take action. We started by blowing up a couple of reactors and then we ended up saving the planet. That company has in some way affected every one that is on this ship. At first we all wanted revenge but then we realized that fighting for our own selfish gain was not bringing us anywhere, so we refocused and ended up saving the planet from Meteor".

Mariah must say she was impressed with this group.

"It looks like joining this group was the best thing that ever happened to me".

"Well you best believe, that we are damned sure happy to have you".

They both laughed and quickly hurried back to making lunch because several complaints were starting to be hurled at them through the intercom from the grumpy pilot in the cockpit.

Red walked along the bridge of the ship with nothing to do in particular. He walked passed Yuffie's usual station and realized that she wasn't there. He must say that he was a bit surprised. All along their travels together anytime it came to flying in the ship, Yuffie would always be there, throwing up.

He remembered this one time when they were coming from the Gold Saucer and Yuffie was really sick that day. He just happened to be the unlucky one to call her name and get a coat made from vomit as his response. Red smiled and continued his search. Eventually he picked up her scent and he followed it to one of the rooms. While outside the room, he heard soft whimpers emanating from within. No doubt it was Yuffie in there and something was bothering her.

He knocked with his paw twice and then the sounds stopped. If it wasn't for his heightened senses he would have never heard the soft and barley audible,

"Come in" from the room

"Is there something wrong Yuffie?" Red asked concern clear in his voice

"What are you talking about Red?" Yuffie asked trying and failing miserably in wiping tears from her face.

Red tilted his head to the side and gave an expression that said; I wasn't born yesterday. Yuffie got up from the bed went over to the door closed, it and put the lights on. She sat down on the bed facing red and started to play with her fingers.

Red realized that he would have to prod for the information and decided to speak up.

"Yuffie I heard you crying outside". He stated simply.

She looked up at him and sighed.

"Can you keep a secret?"

With a nod from Red she continued.

"Well I have to admit that, I'm kinda you know…scared. I know that just two weeks ago we were fighting to save the world, but I don't know if I have that kind of urge to get out there and fight."

Red completely understood. For he too had gone through something similar. She looked at him again and gave a sarcastic laugh.

"I probably sound like an ass to you.

"Not at all" he said

"I just want to know why we cant live a normal life. Why cant we be the ones who get saved? It seems like the whole world is on my shoulder and honest to Gaia, Red I don't want it there."

Red curled up around her legs his huge form giving her some comfort.

"We made the choice to join AVALANCHE. There are different responsibilities that we have to accept. Always remember though, you have the power to go or to leave; you are not obligated to stay here and fight by our side. But I know you Yuffie. You will make the right choice, and I must add that if you leave, AVALANCHE will not be the same without you. I most of all will miss your companionship and you battling beside me".

With that he fell silent and knew that his work here was done. He curled up further around her legs and let his dreams take him.

"I love you Red" Yuffie said silently before laying beside the feline creature, using him for a big teddy bear, with a big smile across her delicate features.

He stood there in the open wind. His unruly spikes dancing in the breeze. I'm nervous but content, these were his thoughts. There was nothing else Cloud could have asked for. He had his best friend, he was with all of his friends, and he was going into battle again to save the world. But he was lying too himself and he knew it.

The one thing that would make him truly content, is to make Tifa his wife. He had been pondering the aspect and was having doubts. Not that he didn't love her enough, but did she love him enough.

Tifa was everything to Cloud. When she walked into a room that he was in, his eyes lit up like a little boy's on Christmas. She was the source of his existence. If it were she that died and not Aeris, Cloud would have died also. He felt every pain she felt, he shed every tear she shed, and he lived every moment for her. Sometimes he wondered why she even put up with him. He never once told her thank you for just being you. He never once thanked her for staying by his side when the team split up. He had taken her for granted and he was ashamed. What kind of husband will I be, he pondered. If I can't say thanks for the little things now then if we get married then everything is going to be wrong. He sighed and looked out at the passing mountains. He would move everyone of them is she only asked.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as the door to the open deck opened and Sephiroth stepped through.

"I thought I'd find you here" he said

"Why what's wrong?" cloud asked turning to face him

"Oh! Nothing at all, don't get me wrong I just wanted to talk to you".

Cloud nodded his head at that and gave him a look that said: please continue.

"I was just remembering how we used to battle and have so much fun. Remember when we were fighting that Marlboro and we had to end up running because we were out of MP, but **your** stubborn ass wanted to go back and fight. Sometimes it's smarter to retreat, and you learned that the hard way"

he laughed. "I really enjoyed those times…back then"

The way he said that last part bothered Cloud.

"We can still have fun," Cloud said punching him in the arm trying to relieve some of the tension. That didn't work and Cloud decided to go in for the kill.

"What is this all about?" he said slowly

Sephiroth just looked at him and smiled.

"Well, ever since what happened with you know…Aeris, I was just hoping that it wouldn't affect the way we fight. I know I sound ridiculous but I just have to know if you feel safe fighting by my side again."

Cloud knew that no matter what, he would always feel safe with Sephiroth. The general had grown to be the brother that he never had. He purposely let 2 minutes fly away. He then broke out into a fit of laughter.

"Of course Seph" he grinned

Sephiroth must say that he was relieved. He hadn't expected Cloud to say otherwise but you can never say never.

"Plus I'd kick your ass any day" Cloud said.

They both laughed and headed for the kitchen because the dinner bell rang and with Barret around no type of food would last.

Everyone was at the table eating and enjoying a conversation about Cid and Barret. They were trying to defend themselves because it was well known around the group that they were the ones who ate the most. And had Tifa constantly making second and thirds for them.

"You need to shut the hell up," Cid yelled at Yuffie from across the room

"At least I don't have a pot belly" she retorted. Causing everyone to laugh, including Cid.

Barret spoke up.

"Well I don't give two shits what the hell yall mo'fo's think. A man like me gotta eat whenever my stomach calls."

Cid was about to shout his agreement when suddenly the co-pilot came in on the intercom.

"We are 5 minutes away from Mideel and will be landing shortly. Captain Cid please report to the main deck I see some suspicious objects on the main radar and need your help to discern what it is."

Cid and the rest of the team were up and running. When they got to the main deck Cid looked up to the main radar and his face twisted into a mask of confusion.

"What the fuck is that shit?" he said

Nobody knew what they were looking at. The reading were showing that the object was hurling tremendous waves of energy everywhere but the mass of the object was no heavier that a chocobo.

"It's Jenova" Sephiroth said stepping forward and turning to Cloud. "Don't you feel her tugging your brain?"

Cloud shook his head.

He indeed felt the familiar tug on his brain and didn't like the feeling he was beginning to have.

By this time they were hovering over Mideel and everyone ran up to the open deck.

When they got up to the top Aeris turned her face away in horror. The life stream was bursting up from everywhere in the ground and there lie dead people all over.

The young were killed the old were ripped apart and their were mangled body pieces all over. There were also people killing each other and themselves obviously under control by some force, but every one knew what that was.

To Tifa and Cloud and in some way Sephiroth this was a nightmare relived. There were houses burning to the ground. Dead people all over and the air stank with an ominous presence that was all too familiar.

Tears flowed down her face and strong firm arms suddenly wrapped her from behind. Cloud gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and her heart fluttered.

"Thank You he said. Thanks for being with me back then and thanks for being with me now.

She turned around and hugged him.

"Ill always be with you," she whispered before they turned back to the horror scene before them.

Mariah stood there staring at the slaughter below her. Suddenly her resolve was diminishing. What have I gotten my self into, she thought. But then she remembered Michael, her baby, and Lincoln. She also remembered what Tifa said. She was no longer going into this battle to get revenge for herself but she had to avenge every life that Jenova so brutally destroyed in the matter of 24 hours. No! This wasn't for her anymore it was for the town of Icicle Inn, it was for her friends, it was for her family, and most of all it was for her daddy, for it was he who taught her to fight for what was right. And if this wasn't right then nothing was.

Yuffie stood with Red and she squatted down to hug him.

"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here" she sad to him

He turn to her and gave her a nuzzle on the neck with his wet nose. This brought a smile to her face as she embraced the feline creature that always had her back no matter what.

"I love you Red," she whispered

"I love you too Mistress Yuffie" he replied a tear threatening to fall from his one remaining eye.

Vincent looked down upon the town. His rage building like a heated Volcano.

"_Let me out so I can make quick work of this monster"_ chaos quarreled from within.

Vincent planned on letting him go but not until they were face to face with the enemy.

Barret and Cid stood there with rim looks on their gruff faces.

Cid turned to his companion.

"Well are ya ready you mean bastard?"

"When ever you are ya frickin prick, Barret Laughed. Just don't die on me I still gotta beat ya ass in poker".

They both laughed and got ready to battle.

Cloud called for everyone's attention when he got it he spoke in a clear voice.

"I want to thank everyone for joining me on this mission. I really appreciate the way you stuck by my side through all of this and I truly consider all of you my dearest friends. Now lets mosey!"

"Don't start that bullshit again Cloud" Barret yelled

Cloud looked confused.

"Mosey my ass he screamed, Lets go kick some alien ass!!"

Cloud smiled and the Team roared in laughter and their morale was strengthened by the bond of friendship that held them together as they descended into the awaiting melee down below.


	9. Round One!

_Chapter 9: Round One!_

When the team landed they realized that it was much worse up close. Every building and every home in the town was torn down and burning. The place stank with the smell of burning flesh and blood. It was a site that no one would ever wish to see. Tifa was having the most problems because every now and then a flash back of her once peaceful town Nibleheim would invade her mind. This seemed too real, it was as if the world had re winded a few years and she was standing in the middle of her hometown watching the people that she had come to love and care about die before her. She looked to the right and she saw Giselle lying in a bloody heap, her body mutilated and unrecognizable. She never liked the girl but not even she deserved this kind of fate. She snapped back to the present day with a gasp so hard her head hurt when she felt a hand on hers. A soft wind blew past carrying the stench of death and blood, she realized that her face felt cool. She touched her cheek and realized that tears were falling of their own accord. She didn't know if she could take this any longer. It was too surreal for her and she just wanted to run away.

If it were Tifa's choice she would have already set a course back to Midgar and continue to run her bar. Not that she wanted to abandon her friends and leave them here, but the emotional stress was just too much for her to handle. Cloud noticed the disturbing and tormented look that was on Tifa's beautiful face. His heart melted.

"It's going to be OK Tiff," he said softly, placing a reassuring hand on her back.

Tifa turned around to him and more tears made their way down her face. Cloud brushed them away and pulled her chin up with his finger.

"This just reminds me of Nibleheim", she said softly.

Cloud pulled her into a hug and he rocked her softly. They would have stayed like that if it weren't for the pending battle that lay ahead.

"Just stay by my side, he whispered. I promise to Gaia that I wont let anything happen to you today, or any other day.

Tifa smiled and felt somewhat relieved but she was still far off from being OK.. she did take comfort in the fact that she could count on Cloud for everything.

He was what Tifa lived everyday for. She did her best to try to please him and when he wasn't happy she was miserable.

"Hey spike, Cid yelled. Lets get a move on. I think I see where all the commotion is coming from and I wanna kick some alien ass."

Cloud laughed at this and then the whole team started walking down the deserted road.

They walked along the main road and the carnage only got worst. They passed by the hospital that Cloud stayed in to treat his Mako poisoning, only to find that the place was a wreck and had fallen to the ground. There were no survivors there because as they walked past they saw the head of a victim crushed under a door frame and the body lying a couple of meters always.

Sephiroth's mind was a whirl. His breathing came in short rasps. And he felt that familiar rage building up inside of him. The same rage that came before any battle. He tried to calm himself but nothing worked. He had to see Jenova face to face and bring her the judgment that she so rightly deserved.

After the team walked a couple of more feet they saw her. They saw Jenova. Standing there in all her power. She was completely naked except for a thin piece of cloth wrapped around her waist to cover up her most privates. She was green pigmented, her breasts were exposed, she had intricate tattoos all over her back and going in a circle around her breasts, her all too familiar tentacles were visible and her face and voice were that of an angel.

"My Children, she said with a delicate smile. Have you come back to join your mother on her quest."

Sephiroth was the first to speak. " You trifling bitch, don't you dare address me or any of us here as your children. You are the scum from the pit of hell and that is exactly where you are going".

He made a move to retrieve his sword.

Jenova's eyes flashed with anger and with lightning fast speed her tentacle had traveled a 30-yard distance and slapped Sephiroth across the face…hard.

Aeris was at his side at once for he had flew 2 feet away.

"Lets get to the point", Cloud snarled, his mako enhanced eyes flashing dangerously and glowing with anger. "I didn't come here to talk to you I came her to kill your ass and that's what I plan to do."

Jenova laughed.

"Unfortunately I don't have any time to play with you idiots. But I do have a friend that I **know **will be more of a challenge to you, you might kill it but regardless if you do. Each technique you use, spell you cast, move you make will be analyzed and sent to me. So if you kill him, or you happen to die in the fight its a win win situation for me."

Mariah stepped forward and glared at Jenova.

"Look you bitch! You killed my husband, my baby, and ruined my life. If you think that you are going to walk away from me this time you had better think again. I am going to beat your ass so bad, that you are going to wish that you never crawled out from under that rock from which you came, and started to lead your miserable life."

Jenova just looked at her and smiled.

"It seems like I didn't finish you off but don't worry, if you want to throw your life away that bad, your will be done.

With that glowing orbs of green light formed around her fists and everyone thought for sure the battle had begun. But she turned around and went to the nearest geyser of the life stream and pushed her hands deep within the earth followed by her tentacles.

"Bashdiko!" She yelled and the earth began to tremble.

Of a sudden the life stream turned a dark blue and then black, it burst up from the earth with incredible power and redirected its route down-ward. It landed inches away from the team and they had to step back. The liquid now took on a thick texture and oozed into that of a huge trollish figure. When it became solid it was the most horrid thing they ever saw.

It was 8 feet tall with white scales and red eyes. It had 6 arms three on each side and a mouth that contained 3 rows of razor sharp teeth. Top and bottom. The beast came with a stench that made the team gag and turn away in disgust. Acidic spittle dripped from the corners of its mouth only to pop an sizzle as it touched the ground.

Jenova cackled and burst forth two black wings. She looked at them one last time.

"If you do happen to make it out alive, which I highly doubt. Then you can reach me in Nibleheim. There are a few friends I want to bring along with me"

With that she turned tail and flew off into the horizon.

Everybody got into their battle formation and waited for this monster to make a move.

The monster lifted his head and roared as if to summon something. Of a sudden there were 6 mini versions of this Bashdiko at its side. Each of them were at least 5 feet but had the same vile appearance.

The creatures wasted no time and rolled on into battle.

One of the smaller creatures aimed right for Yuffie but was stopped when her conformer went flying for its arm. The arm came off clean and the creature howled in agony. This gave Yuffie enough time to cast her sense Materia and was rewarded with the information she needed. The voices of the materia whispered to her that these things were called Manitou. They were weak against fire and absorbed ice and lighting attacks. Yuffie quickly switched in her added-effect materia with her mastered fire and went in for a slash across the enemy's chest.

The creature saw her coming and dipped low and came in with a sweep kick that threw Yuffie right off. She fell to the ground but recovered quickly and learned from that mistake.

She took a couple of steps back and the creature looked at her with a nasty grin on its face. It thought she was retreating. It closed its eyes held its belly and let out a roar. Big mistake! When it next open its eyes Yuffie's boot connected with its jaw. For Yuffie had took a running start and came in strong with a roundhouse kick.

Yuffie took this time to gather her MP and cast a Fire 3 on the beast. The Manitou caught fire as if it were a flammable liquid. It roared in agony and Yuffie ran in for the kill with her conformer slashing up down, on the creatures back and then side ways to sever its head from the neck. The creature fell dead and disappeared. The Bashdiko roared as if had felt the pain of its fellow brother. Yuffie noticed this and ran to Cloud who was going straight for the kill on the Bashdiko.

Tifa was sorely pressed. There were two of the small creatures fighting hand-to-hand combat with her. She heard Yuffie say that the names of these things were Manitou and she was looking for her opening. One of the Manitou threw a punch at her face and she dodged it, but had to block with her forearm, the jab of the other one. She saw her opening. For the first Manitou had turned all his attention to Tifa's foot which threatened to kick him. Her elbow came in hard across the Manitou's face and Tifa was rewarded with the satisfying feeling of a bone crack on her elbow. The creature now was stunned and in the range for an easy kill. Tifa kicked the second Manitou in the head and sent it sprawling to the ground. Tifa called upon the powers that Zangan had taught her to summon and ran into the creature and screamed "Meteor Drive!"

She grabbed the beast by its legs brought it up to the sky with a boost jump, twirled it around and sent it diving to the earth headfirst with incredible speed. It hit the ground with a sickening crunch and disappeared right before Tifa's eyes.

Before she could do anything else electrifying pain shot through her body as she looked down to see a claw protruding from her shoulder. She cried out in pain, but saw a huge beast fly toward her attacker and taking it with him.

She turned around to see red with the Manitou on the ground and Red's ivory white teeth sinking into the throat. Within seconds the Manitou was dead and gone. They turned around shared the same thought and went deeper into battle.

It was madness all around Mariah, but she kept her calm. She focused on her opponent, which was one she never had before. She had her weapon in sword state and the creature was attacking viciously. Mariah could not find an opening to make her move though. She must say that she was getting upset. She heard someone cry out in pain and turned to see Tifa being attacked, but Red had came to rescue her. When she turned back around she was rewarded with a punch to her stomach, a kick to her legs and a slap across the face. She fell to the ground and the creature pressed on. She was hit repeatedly over and over. She felt the creatures claw like toes rip into her flesh and pull away as it kicked her. She was getting her ass kicked.

Mariah surely thought that she was going to die because of the overwhelming agony that ran through her body. But then an image of Michael came to mind. A tear fell and she remembered her promise to him. She was up in an instant and her eyes flashed with anger. The beast just looked at her and gave a smile. She turned her weapon to whip state and with inhuman speed whipped the beast across the face, drawing blood. She repeated this but aimed for the midsection and was happy to see that where her whip had struck there was a gapping wound where the flesh had been torn away and was hanging loosely on a diamond shard. The Manitou was infuriated and its rage blinded its technique. She waited and waited and then it came. When the monster was within range she flicked the whip and caught the neck. The shards sank into the flesh of the monster like a hot knife into butter. The beast howled. But its cry of agony was stopped short as the whip went to sword and with a quick slash its head came right off. Toppling to the ground with the same look of horror etched on its face until the whole thing just disappeared. A grin came on Mariah's face and she pointed out her next target. All the while, the Bashdiko screaming in pain for its lost folk.

Chaos soared high, and dipped low. Picking up one of the many creatures. As the beast gave a roar in complaint at being picked up it closed its mouth as chaos' claw ripped its head from the body and drank the vile blood within. Chaos dipped low again and went for the creature aiming for Aeris. He picked it up at the last moment and cracked the body in half. The Manitou's heart exploded because of the pressure being put on him and the body went limp. Dead before it even hit the ground.

Aeris was glad that Vincent had picked that beast off for her because she was scared to death. After she got her wits together she noticed that all of the mini monsters were gone and the larger one seemed somewhat vulnerable to attacks now that his brethren were out of the picture. She immediately went on the defensive as her team crowded around the beast. She cast wall on every one then went about to place a Cure 3 spell on every one. She then summoned her planet given abilities and cast a healing wind spell to do the rest.

Barret and Cid ran up to the Bashdiko from the back and started the attack. Barret aimed the Missing Score at the head of the beast and fired. The beast roared in pain and turned to see its attackers. As soon as it turned it was given an opportunity to meets the Venus Gospel face to face. For Cid boost jumped and struck the Bashdiko in the right eye, blinding it forever.

By this time everyone had learned from Yuffie that this creature was also weak against fire. After the Bashdiko had recovered from the initial shock of not being able to see from one eye it turned and snarled at the rest of the team. It was met with:

"Fire 3!" the whole team yelled

The Bashdiko was hit from every direction with burning blazes.

It didn't end there. For at the same time it grabbed Mariah.

Another mistake on the enemy's part.

Red and Yuffie were on either side of the monster.

"Cosmo Memory, All Creation!" they yelled in unison.

And the monster was hit from both sides.

This was followed by Tifa charging in yelling,

"Final Heaven!" the after results were a gaping hole in the Basdiko's midsection.

Still not quite satisfied, Cloud and Sephiroth looked at each other and shared the same thought.

With a cry of "WAVES OF TERROR!" from Sephiroth and a cry of "OMNISLASH" from Cloud. They assaulted the creature.

Sephiroth's aim was impeccable and he broke the beast's leg in different places with each thrust of power. Cloud's aim was for the head and the arm, which held Mariah. After the arm had been severed, the assault continued on the beast's head. The brain of the animal exploded due to the multiple attacks being unleashed upon it. It was as good as dead.

To get rid of the body Chaos opened up the pits of the dark abyss with a Satan-slam and the devil's minions dragged Bashdiko down while Barret Yelled "Catastrophe" and pounded him from above, only furthering the damage to the head and pushing him into the Abyss all the quicker.

Within seconds the battlefield was cleared and the only things remaining were a tired team, a still unmoving Mariah, and a once flourishing city burned to ashes.


	10. Reflection

_Chapter 10: Reflection._

They sat there. Amidst the burning houses and the charred buildings. They didn't revel in the beauty of another battle won. Not that they didn't want to but they just couldn't. Aeris was trying her best to revive Mariah, and bring her back to consciousness, but she was worn out from the battle and her healing abilities put too much strain on her.

The team sat there downtrodden and in a sulky mood. Sure they had killed the Bashdiko, but they didn't feel any better about themselves. If at anytime the weight of the world were on their shoulders, it was now. And it seemed to be three times as heavy from before.

Sephiroth sat there and looked out into space. He had let her escape and now she would do more damage. He had planned on coming here to finish the job once and for all. But now all of his plans were shifted and he had to re-adjust. Again. This sit too well with him, when he set out to do something he was dedicated on seeing it out to the end. If he were in this very same predicament when he was in SOILDER he would have been tailing the target right now. He would not have let the enemy get away. He didn't want to think himself getting weak or losing his edge, but he just was not happy about the way that things had panned out. He always went in, finished the job and that was that. Now that this monster was on the loose he had to come up with a new plan.

There was another thing that bothered him. Why hadn't Jenova tried to control him and make him turn against his team? She was famous for that, and the thought of her not doing it was not sitting well with Sephiroth. After all that has been happening this was just another worry to throw to the pile. In the space of 42 hours Sephiroth had managed to be reborn, untied with his best friend, find out that Jenova was back, unite with AVALANCHE, fight one of Jenova's minions and let her escape. This really got him thinking. Right about now he was having his doubts about this second chance thing.

Of a sudden he felt the all to familiar tugging on his brain, and in an instant his Masamune was in his grip.

"Didn't we destroy her little fiend", he thought out loud.

Then a thought struck him and he was looking around the burned down city for a clue that Jenova still might be around. When he turned back around he saw Cloud coming towards him. He already knew what the problem was; he sat down and offered Cloud a space next to him atop the rock that he sat on.

Cloud took the seat that was offered to him and looked out onto the burnt city.

"She really overdid it this time," he said lowly.

Sephiroth looked over to him and nodded grimly.

"So much lives, so many innocent people died here today," Sephiroth said, as if it weren't obvious.

Cloud felt sorry for the people that had died here today, but that was not his true intent for coming to talk to Sephiroth. He let a few moments pass by before he said anything. He indeed felt the tug on his brain that came whenever Jenova or something of her was around. But he didn't want to say anything just in case he was wrong. He didn't want to alarm every one and have them going all willy-nilly, scared out of their minds. This conversation was to be, between he and Sephiroth.

Sephiroth knew that Cloud wanted to say something and sensed his hesitation, so he decided to take the initiative.

"You feel it don't you" he said, more of a statement than an question.

A relieved smiled crossed Cloud's face and he nodded his head.

"The feeling came about 5 minutes ago. I wanted to tell you, but I thought it was my imagination. I didn't want to scare the team".

Sephiroth understood. He turned so that he and Cloud were face to face.

"So what are we going to do?"

Cloud didn't think about that, and was at a lost for words.

"What do you think we should do?"

Sephiroth pondered the question for a moment and Cloud thought that he wasn't going to say anything.

"Well I know that we are going to have to tell someone. We are also going to have to search for this…disturbance".

Cloud nodded his head. But the he turned to his friend with a confused look.

Sephiroth noticed.

"What's wrong?" he asked

"Well you said to tell **someone**. Why don't we just tell the whole team. I mean, AVALANCHE is based on trust and if we are going anywhere then the whole team needs to be notified."

Sephiroth looked at him and smiled.

"Your loyalty remains strong. The reason I said one person is because like you said before we don't want anyone to get alarmed. The team is going to know what we are doing for sure but they don't have to know all the details. For instance. Look at Aeris. They both looked over at her. She was above Mariah trying to cast a healing wind but was to weak and strained. She truly looked like she was going to cry. Cloud understood. We are just going to tell them that we want to check around the place for anything left over. We know for sure that there is something here, but with both of us on its case it shouldn't be to hard to handle".

Cloud smiled and they both laughed.

"Just like old times".

Sephiroth started to walk and noticed that Cloud was going in the opposite direction. "She is over there Cloud"

Cloud turned around.

"Who?"

Sephiroth laughed out loud.

"I know you too well. You are going to tell Miss Lockheart I'm sure. She is over this way."

Cloud realized what he was saying and ran to catch up with Seph.

"You know me to damn well."

He said with a grin.

Aeris was frustrated, tired, hungry, and angry. Angry at herself. No matter how hard she tried she could not bring Mariah around. A tear fell from her red eyes only to mingle with the beads of sweat that were rolling down her face from her forehead, but she wiped it away and forced herself to try again.

"Guardian of the…" she could not continue she was just too tired.

She felt a strong arm on her shoulders.

She turned around to see Vincent standing above her.

"You are going to hurt yourself," he said.

Aeris looked at him and tried to get up. When she got to her feet, they gave way and she fainted into Vincent's arms.

He caught her up and brought her over to a stream that ran through town from the surrounding forest. The stream seemed so pure and clean, compared to the rest of the town; it was like heaven in hell. Vincent looked around one more time before tending to Aeris. There were no survivors; Vincent doubted that this town would ever be rebuilt. With a final sigh he turned to the task at hand.

He took his handkerchief out from his back pocket and dipped it into the ice-cold stream. When the whole thing was totally submerged beneath water, he took it out and shook some of the water out. He folded it and placed it on Aeris' forehead. He then cast a Regen Spell (you have to play the game to know what this is. It's the spell right after cure 2). As the spell took effect, he saw the color return to her cheeks and her breathing calm until it was obvious that she was in a deep slumber.

As he looked at her he took notice of how beautiful she really was. He and everybody else in the group had always thought of the flower girl as a little sister. He had never took the time to realize what a beautiful young woman she had become. Looking at her reminded him of his own lost love. His Lucrecia.

A small smile crossed his thin lips. He remembered all the times that he and Lucrecia had spent together. They had spent many nights together, under the stars. Vincent remembered their most special night. It was the last night she spent on Earth. The night before she died……

_Two figures lay in the grass, right outside the town of Nibleheim. Vincent and Lucrecia. These two were a match made in heaven. The gods had brought them together._

"_How's the pregnancy going?" Vincent asked, a bit sad that the child his true love bore was not his._

"_My morning sickness is bad, but other than that I am just fine" she said._

_Vincent looked down on her and caressed he face. _

"_Do you think that it could be the Jenova cells" he asked, worry clear on his face._

_Lucrecia rolled her eyes. They had been through this conversation many times before. She had told him time and time again. The Jenova cells in her were just to enhance the baby's abilities. _

_Vincent saw the look on his face and he smiled._

"_I am sorry my love. My intent was not to make you unhappy."_

_With that he went down low for a kiss._

_She smiled at him as he held her in his arms. Moments passed by without a word being said. Both enjoying the bliss that came with the love of another._

"_what are you doing tomorrow?" Vincent asked, to break the silence._

"_Oh nothing much. I just have to go into the lab so Hojo can run some tests and give me a couple of injections. Gods! I hate those things. They hurt so much. And the pain doesn't subside until the next day."_

_Vincent knew this to be true for he had witnessed it first hand. He has saw the pain on her face and in her eyes._

_More moments fled away with silence before Vincent's patience ran out._

"_Run away with me" he said all of a sudden._

"_What! You know I cant do that" she said lowly._

"_You can do whatever you want. There is nothing here that binds you to this hell. We can go away somewhere and I will raise that child as if it were my own." Vincent said, with a fire burning in his eyes._

"_You forget. She said. I am married to that man. There is still some level of love I have for him Vincent. I just cant take his child away from him. Abandon him and take away all his dreams._

_More silence…accompanied by a very awkward moment. "_

_Make a choice. Me or him" he said._

_Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at him._

"_Vi..Vincent. don't do this to me. You are my life. My soul mate. You are my everything. But what we have is forbidden. I am legally bound to Hojo by holy sanctity."_

"_I am sorry, he said lowly. I just love you so much. I cant bear to see you suffer at the hand of a man that has no love for you."_

_He leaned down to kiss her forehead and then her lips. After the kiss a fire burned within his loins. He wanted her._

_She looked up at him, her breasts throbbed and her nature yearned for his member. _

_She __**needed **__him_

_He caught her up in his arms and they were lost in a world of pleasure and ecstasy._

_Their moans of pleasure were lost in the night wind as they gave themselves to each other._

_This would be the last night of her life, and the end of his happiness for they had been torn apart from each other by a force greater than either of them could ever manage to control._

Vincent was pulled out of his thoughts by a moan from Aeris. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Thanks Vinny" she said

"Its ok. It was nothing. He removed his handkerchief from her head. Now if you would excuse me I have something to attend to."

Aeris understood and let him go.

Vincent really didn't have anything to do. But his thoughts called out to him. He had to think of her.

"Are you sure?" Tifa said alarmed

Cloud pulled her to the side. Out of Barret's ear range.

"Yes. Sephiroth and I have the same gut feeling and we think that we need to follow it.

"Well I want to come," she said pulling on the Premium Heart.

Cloud smiled.

"You know you can't come. We don't want to alarm the team. You're the heart of everyone here, you can't go. You have to stay here and make sure they are all right. Every one is pretty gloomy. They need you to support them.

Tears formed in her eyes and Cloud embraced her.

"Hey…hey no crying. I promise we are coming back. Remember I am your knight in shining armor. Ill be here to protect you."

"Just come back to me in one piece". She said lowly.

Sephiroth came up behind them and after he received a smile from Tifa he turned to Cloud.

"Ready?" he asked

"I sure am" he said, he turned around and gave Tifa a kiss on the cheek and walked away with Sephiroth.

Tifa turned and walked away with tears streaming down her face, afraid that Barret might see her cry.

She wiped her tears and decided to tell the team what was going on

Cloud and Sephiroth entered the forest area from the back of the town. The tug seemed stronger around there.

Cloud smiled as they walked. He remembered the many times they had walked together on missions. He looked over to Sephiroth.

Sephiroth felt Cloud's eyes on him and without turning asked

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just remembered when we had to walk through the Rocket City forest to get back to base".

This brought a laugh from Sephiroth and soon they both were laughing.

For during the hike Cloud's pants got stuck to a protruding tree limb. And ripped. Causing him to walk the rest of the way in his boxers.

He really enjoyed being with Seph. Having his best friend was one of the best things that had happened to him during the last couple of weeks.

The way that Sephiroth did everything made Cloud just want to be more like him.

The way that this man battled next to Cloud made him feel great. Having your best friend battle with you was the best feeling that a man could have. Well that is what Cloud Strife thought.

The recent battle came back to Cloud's mind and he forgot that he had to tell Seph thanks for having his back.

Sephiroth was a great fighter Cloud thought.

When he picked up his weapon, it was like he was doing a dance.

Something so intricate and special.

When Sephiroth battled it was he were gliding on ice.

The whole reason Cloud joined SOILDER was so that he could battle like his idol.

"That attack was really something" Cloud said, breaking the silence.

Sephiroth faced him.

"That move was pretty good you're damn self."

They laughed and a thought came to Sephiroth.

"Hey Cloud. I always wondered, what is the name of your fighting technique?"

Cloud thought for a moment. Phrasing his sentences just right.

"Well its called Di-kwaqto-fiu-chyn(die-cato-foo-shun). This particular fighting style is an aggressive one. As you can see, during all my battles I charge in and try to go straight for the kill. The way I see it, is you can take the enemy by surprise with an aggressive beginning. They will not be expecting you to charge in so suddenly and that my friend is called the element of surprise. They will not have enough time to form a strong attack, and you can take that to your advantage." Cloud ended and gave Sephiroth a proud look.

Sephiroth looked at Cloud and smiled. He totally agreed with what Cloud was saying. It was a dangerous technique but it was also very strong if done right. Sephiroth had learned about this fighting style when training with his sword-master.

He had seen Cloud in battle and he had to admit that there was plenty of skill in the young man, but his moves were also very sloppy.

A thought struck him and he pondered on it before asking his question.

"So what happens if your aggressiveness does not overwhelm the enemy? What happens then?"

Cloud looked at him.

"Then I switch to my alternate stance. This one is called run like hell"

They both laughed at this and continued walking.

Sephiroth turned to him. "Can I give you some constructive criticism?"

He already knew the answer, for they had both always been able to tell each other what was wrong without any hard feelings.

Cloud nodded his head in eagerness, wanting to hear any useful information that may improve his fighting skills.

"Well your technique is great, but your moves are very sloppy. For instance, when you were finishing off the Omnislash with the last attack. Your hands had a firm grip on the sword but the angle that you came down with was not good at all. I suggest that if you bring your hands closer together toward the middle of the hilt, you would be able to control your attack easier and it will be much stronger. My master always told me that in everything there is a center of balance. He taught me that the center of balance is the strongest place in anything. That is how he showed me how to find the center of balance on the Masamune.

They came upon two logs that were of the same length and mass. Cloud, why don't you try out what I just taught you on these things here. And lets see the difference." "Nobody knows this, but I cannot lift the Masamune with one hand."

He demonstrated and Cloud saw that he really could not pick it up. He saw the strain in Sephiroth's eyes and the beads of sweat.

After Sephiroth gave up on trying to lift the sword he turned to Cloud and the logs.

With a slight nod from Sephiroth Cloud went to work.

First he tried his regular attack. The sword sliced through the wood and cut it neatly in half.

Cloud turned to the other log and focused on finding the Balance of his Ultima Weapon. When he had convinced himself that he found it he aimed and let go.

There was a loud crack throughout the forest and birds flew from their branches.

One piece of the wood broke into four pieces and the other went toppling down the hill.

Sephiroth had not expected the blow to be so powerful. He must say he was impressed with the strength of the attack.

Cloud turned and faced Sephiroth with a grin and they both turned to walk.

"Who knows what you could have done to the head of that thing if you had knew what to do sooner."

Cloud was absolutely stunned he wondered why he hadn't tried that before.

They walked a while in silence. Cloud was so wrapped up in his thoughts he had forgot about the General.

Cloud broke the silence with a question of his own.

"And what is the name of your technique? Cloud questioned.

No answer.

Cloud looked around him to see Sephiroth a couple of yards behind him. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Sephiroth stop.

"Shhhh! He whispered. Don't you feel the tug? It's incredibly strong around here."

Cloud felt the tug. But he was confused. They were in the open. Around a whole bunch of trees, with nothing around but bushes.

"Yea. I do feel it but---------

Of a sudden it came. The monstrous thing that Jenova had left behind for them.

It was hideous. It seemed to weigh a ton. It had tentacles jus like Jenova but this beast had them in abundance. It was green, smelled of rotting plants and had a maw that was wide enough to swallow them both whole. It was huge and made them both seem like ants.

The monster stood there and then it talked. It was obvious that Jenova was using it as a surrogate and what it said had the hairs on Cloud's neck sticking up.

In a deep raspy voice that sounded like slabs of mental clanging together, it said:

"My children, I see you have answered your mother's call. I wanted you here so that I could tell you what my next plan was. I am going to use this Malgtiu(Mal-gi-too) to kill you. I know you are thinking what kind of mother would kill two of her precious children. Well the answer is. I just need your bodies and your minds. I don't need your souls. When this monster it through with you, you'll be as good as a vegetable. Play nice now". And with that she was gone…again.

Cloud turned to Sephiroth.

"Hey Seph it looks like its just you and I. Just like old times. I have been saying that a lot these last days huh. Well I am just glad to have you back. But what do you say you let me take this monstrosity down and you sit back and relax."

Sephiroth nodded his head. For he truly wanted to see Cloud use his new skills against this fiend.

Cloud sized up his opponent as usual. The monster however had no time to waste and attacked immediately. It sent one of its tentacles flying towards Cloud. Cloud lifted his weapon and as the thing came close he hacked it right off. This didn't even faze the beast. For the tentacle, which had, came off grew right back.

Cloud's face twisted into confusion. You could never be sure what you were up against when it came to Jenova and her pets. The Malgtiu sent 5 tentacles for Cloud. He dodged two and hacked off two. Only to have them grow back. The 5th one caught him though. It sent intense pain shooting through his back. He ignored it and got up. He noticed that this monster seemed to be a grass/fire type monster. He cast his Ice 3 spell and blasted the creature.

The Malgtiu screamed in pain. It looked down at Cloud and let out a low guttural sound. With that it sent out up to 20 tentacles at him, Cloud was skilled but not that skilled. At least 12 of the whip like tentacles hit him. When the barrage was over Cloud felt his rage building. He also felt the familiar feeling of poison within his system. He turned to Sephiroth and Seph understood. A cure 3 spell was cast to stop the bleeding from his wounds and then an esuna to get rid of the poison. For some reason the esuna didn't work. This was a special poison that Jenova prepared herself.

Cloud was mad. He was seething and all caution was thrown to the wind. He charged at the Malgtiu. It saw him coming and sent out more tentacles. These were destroyed at they came within Cloud's vicinity. When Cloud was upon the monster he let out a barrage of attacks.

First he swung upwards catching the monster on the soft exposed flesh of its underbelly. He then pulled the sword out sent it hurtling into the air; he had enough time to cast an Ice spell that wouldn't take so much time. He cast the spell, and it did fair damage to the monster. When his sword came back down he was waiting on it. While the monster was screaming in pain he drove the sword into the monster's left side. He pulled out again and went into an attack frenzy. He pulled out a dagger from his right boot and cut off another tentacle. While his sword drove in and out, under and above the soft muscle tissue of the under belly the dagger hand was viciously hacking away tentacles. He then went into a spinning sword dance. Weaving his way in and out of the tentacles and tough hide of the beast until there was a shrieking in the forest from the Malgtiu. Cloud drove the dagger back into its sheath, careful not to cut the boot and switched his sword hand. He pulled back away from the monster, took a running start and jumped off the belly of the beast to send a cross-slash attack at the monster's face.

The monster got hit but so did Cloud. For in all the commotion after the attack was released. The monster had batted Cloud away and sent him hurling toward a tree. He hit the tree and slid down to the ground. Pain numbed his body and his vision swam.

Sephiroth ran over to him and was healing him immediately. He set a regen spell on its course. And then gave Cloud a hi-potion to drink. Cloud winced at the taste and felt some of the pain go away. He tried to get up but Sephiroth stopped him.

"You are in no condition to fight. Let me handle him now. You have done well."

He ruffled the blonde spikes and turned to the monster that was now bleeding profusely from the face. (If you could call it that)

He turned back to Cloud one last time.

"Oh yea…and its called Anjasukatei".

Cloud was lost. But Sephiroth was already walking up to the beast.

Sephiroth removed his trench coat and flexed his muscles. He took up the masamune and pointed it at the beast. With incredible speed Sephiroth was in front of the monster chopping away tentacles. Before the monster could react it had lost nearly half of the slithering things. It had never before lost so much at a time so it could not tell its body what to do about the missing things that were now withering on the ground behind it.

Sephiroth wasted no time. He ran up to the beast just like Cloud had. Jumped off the soft belly but stayed there. He drove his sword down through the soft flesh and jumped back to the ground with his hand gripping his swords hilt. When he looked back up he saw a big tear on the creature's abdominal and some kind of blue liquid was flowing out. The Malgtiu roared in fury and it started to move forward to Sephiroth. He cast an Ice spell and stopped it dead in tracks. He then went about to continue hacking off the rest of the tentacles that remained, while the monster tried to free its legs from the ice blocks that Sephiroth formed around them. When he was free it suddenly grabbed Sepiroth in its big hands. Sephiroth only had about 10 more tentacles to take off and the beast caught him in unawareness. The grip of this monster was deadly; one of its claws broke a rib of the warrior upon impact.

Sephiroth tried to get out but he couldn't.

He felt another bone crack and his breathing came in ragged gasps now. His rage was building.

He had to try to control himself. He couldn't get into the same mess Cloud had. He had to keep it calm. He had an idea as the monster broke yet another rib. It was going to kill him like this. He reached for his sword, which was in the hand the monster, held captive.

He took his masamune into the other hand and aimed for where the two bones met in the monster's wrist. He focused on the center of balance and let his sword fly. He dropped to the ground with his body still inside the creature's grip. He looked up to see part of the monster's anatomy missing. He smiled deviously. He freed himself and took a couple of slow steady breaths. He ran a full circle around the beast with his Masamune trailing him. Leaving deep gashes into the monster wherever his sword touched. He then went in front of the Malgtiu and drove his sword through his enemy and twisted it to the side, causing yet another gaping wound. He then ran up to the monster doing a reverse spin and bringing his sword up and around to strike the monster in the belly once again.

He did yet another spin but this time stopped with his back facing the monster. The monster saw this as a perfect opportunity to crush this pest. It leaned forward to grab him with its other arm. Sephiroth's plan worked out well, for the fool monster had fell for the bait. Seph leaned back as if in matrix style arched his back upward and drove the sword into the oncoming chin of the Malgtiu. The sword went through the chin and wound up inside the mouth of the beast. It pulled back up into a standing position and Seph lost his grip on the hilt. Now the sword was stuck into the mouth of this thing.

No problem for Sephiroth. He stuck his hand out and called the sword to him. The thin but extremely sharp edged sword tore through the tissue and the tongue and the gums and the teeth of the beast. While this was happening the monster was moving toward him with its hand raised for a strike. Seph knew that he would get hit but he had to get his sword back. He could not cast a wall spell, in time. By the time he had his sword back in time, the hand of the beast collided with the left side of his body and sent him sprawling into a tree that just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Cloud sat there in awe. He was sad that he was not able to help Seph but the man was truly a god of war. He had did more damage to the beast than Cloud had without taking a single blow. Then it hit Cloud.

Anjasukatei was the fighting technique that he used. He had to ask Sephiroth to teach him.

He turned back to the fight, to see Sephiroth staggering up and an unnatural glow was in his eyes.

The impact hurt like hell to Sephiroth but he no longer felt it. His rage glowed in his eyes and he was out for blood.

His rage grew to the point of explosion and he unlocked the secret to channel his anger into his fighting technique. He had tried for so long. Now he finally knew what to do. His master warned him about this though. There was a purer way to do things but all Seph could think about was eating this piece of shit alive. With each passing second his anger only grew and grew. Of a sudden there was a silhouette of two black wings on his back and he rushed into battle.

"ICE PRISON!" he yelled.

Sephiroth ran up to the Monster and jabbed his sword into the ground. He lifted both hands, which were now covered by a blue icy flowing gas. He formed a circle in the air, each hand leaving a trail of gas as it went around. He kept on completing full circles until the whole circle in the air was filled. It looked like a time warp to another zone of the earth.

"ICE 3!" Sephiroth yelled.

All Cloud saw was a huge ice cube, and Sephiroth and the Malgtiu had disappeared into it.

"Its just me and you. Now Die!" Sephiroth yelled.

Seph ran up to the Malgtiu and slashed it across the stomach. A gaping wound appeared over the old one, and of a sudden it froze. Now there was a frozen diagonal slash across the enemy's belly. It looked down at itself in horror. It tried to move but noticed that it was frozen in place.

It let out a roar of defeat and let death take it. Sephiroth rushed in with his sword.

"WAVE OF ICE TERROR!" he yelled.

Seph spun on his heel stopped and whispered

"Die".

With that attack Sephiroth had released a blizzard of ice shard sharp enough to cut through steel. The beast was now covered in blood and its death was evident. Each shard protruding from its body was visible from the other side.

This didn't stop Sephiroth for then he ran up to the beast jumped into the air and aimed his sword down for the middle of the beast's head.

His sword pierced through the skull the brain and the head exploded into a mess of ice brain blood and other in-human things.

With his work here done he whispered.

"Diminish".

The whole prison evaporated and then they were in the forest again. Cloud, Sephiroth, and the Monster.

Sephiroth was totally drained from the ordeal and fell to one knee.

Cloud saw the monster make a move for Sephiroth.

He was about to yell out a warning.

But then realized that as the beast took a step it froze over an fell to the ground in a toppling heap of ice shards. Only to evaporate in the evening sun.

Cloud was open mouthed and wide eyed. He had never seen anything like that before. He turned back to Sephiroth. He gathered his remaining energy and ran over to him.

"I al…almost…co…comp…completed…it" he stuttered from exhaustion.

"What?!" Cloud yelled

"The…." He didn't get a chance to finish.

Sephiroth fainted and his breathing became calm as he slipped away into blackness.

Cloud shook him.

"Seph! Seph! Seph! Get up man".

Cloud looked back the way they had came. Darkness was falling and he had to get back before night was fully on them. He didn't want to worry the team.

He hoisted the General on his back and began the long trudge back to camp. His confused mind reeling with questions that so desperately needed answering.


	11. Chaos At Camp

_Chapter 11: Chaos at camp._

The camp was in an upheaval. Cloud and Sephiroth had not returned from their scout yet. And darkness had fallen. Tifa had told the rest of the team what was going on. She told them that Cloud and Seph had just went to make some rounds, to make sure that nothing was left behind from Jenova. When the rest of the team heard the information they were angry.

People were yelling out there curses at the couple for not taking them along to find what ever they were looking for. Tifa was miserable. She was supposed to be acting as the heart of the team and to give them her support, but right about now she was the one who needed it. She went over to Aeris who was sitting by the stream running through the ghost town. She sat down and shared a smile with her friend.

"Mariah is still unconscious" Aeris said.

"She must have really took a hard hit from that monster" Tifa replied.

"When I checked her I saw the finger prints on her chest. It also looks like she had a broken rib". Aeris stated.

Her eyes brimmed with tears of her disappointment. She was really frustrated with herself for not being able to wake Mariah up.

Tifa noticed her features and put her arm around Aeris' shoulder.

"Its not your fault. She just happened to be in the wrong place. Don't beat your self up for it."

The tears were now streaming freely, and she had to hide her face. She didn't want anyone to see her cry.

"I know Tifa. She finally said. But I feel so useless. I feel so distant when the team goes into battle. All I can do is run when the enemy comes close and heal from a distance. I cant do anything right. You guys will be better off without me." With that she broke into another fit of sobs.

Tifa couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tifa thought that Aeris was one of the most important people in the group. If not to the group then she was one of the most important people to Tifa.

"Aeris don't talk like that. That's nonsense. The group wouldn't be the same with out you. You have so much life and energy. I try to be like you but I can't fit your shoes. Aeris I look up to you. You're so optimistic and you always look for the good in every situation. And just because you don't battle as hard as you want to, doesn't mean that you're not strong. All your strengths and powers come from your ability to cast magic as well as you do. My spells cannot even compare to yours. Plus you are like a sister to me. If you don't feel important here to anyone else. Just now that you are to me.

Aeris felt like a weight had been lifted of from her heart.

She turned to Tifa and gave her a hug that had Tifa thinking it was Barret who was there hugging her and not Aeris.

"Tifa I love you so much. I don't know what I would do without you."

Tifa just smiled.

When Aeris had washed her face in the stream to freshen up, she turn to Tifa.

"Cloud and Sephiroth still haven't come back yet?" she asked

"No. She replied, this time Tifa feeling the weight of the world. I just have a gut feeling that something terrible has happened. She turned to Aeris. What if Cloud has found something and got wounded during the fight? What if he is out there and he got lost? What if he has a terminal wound? What if he is---, she broke down into tears. What if he is de…dead?"

Aeris reached out to her and smiled. She then let out a little chuckle.

Tifa looked at her as if she was crazy.

"What are you laughing at? This is not a time to be laughing! He might be seriously inju-

"You really love him don't you?"

The question caught her by surprise and her answer was stuttered.

"O…of course I love hi…him. He is like my brother."

Aeris laughed again.

"Tifa did you notice that when you were talking, you did not once ask about Sephiroth. If you didn't realize it, Sephiroth was with him and he didn't go alone."

Tifa realized this and her cheeks reddened.

"Its alright. I have known for a while and it's obvious."

Tifa closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

She looked over to Aeris who had a smile on.

"I love him to death Aeris, but he doesn't notice me. I try and try. Time and time again I try to express my true feelings, but when he comes around I cant say how I truly feel. Ever since we were smaller I always had a special connection with Cloud. Sure I had friends. But none of them showed me the kind of love and kindness that he showed me. He was even there for me when my mother died.

New tears fell at the memory of her mom.

_Young Tifa sat there in her bedroom filled with her friends. Mama has gone away and Tifa knew that she wasn't coming back. Mama had been everything to her. She pulled her knees up to her chest gave one last sob and tried to stop crying. She was happy to have all her friends around her, but no one could comfort her the way she wanted. She wanted comfort from one person. But that person wasn't here. She looked around and saw all the familiar faces. She closed her eyes and opened them again hoping that next time she could see, he would miraculously be there. She opened up her eyes to her own disappointment. She got up and went to the window. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw him standing there with his spiky blond hair. He waved to her and she waved back. She turned away for a quick second to wipe away her tears. She was about to open the window when she noticed that the spot where he was standing was now vacant. Nobody was there. Tifa thought for a moment. Did she so badly want to talk to him that she was imagining things now? She stood there, more tears falling from her already red eyes. She had had her heart broken twice in one day. Her mama was gone and there was no Cloud to talk to and share all her feelings with. She couldn't deal with it anymore. What else or who else would break her spirit and cause her so much pain in this town. She was going to run away. She didn't know where she was going or what she was going to do, but she had to get out. Things were not the same around here and she didn't like the change. Change…she thought. It was a scary thing and she didn't want to confront it or even think about it right now. She rushed passed her friends in her room and ran down the hallway and headed for the steps. They just looked at her and thought she needed some time alone, so they let her go. When she was about to go down the first step, what she saw made her heart stop. All time was frozen as she saw him standing there in his little navy blue shorts and white tank top._

"_Where ya going Tifa? Um…can I come with you? The other kids don't like me and"…_

_He didn't get a chance to finish for Tifa ran to him and threw her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shirt. Young Cloud was stunned. Why was Tifa crying? He felt so sorry for her._

"_Tiff, hey what's wrong? Please don't cry. Is there anything I can do for you?"_

_Nothing seemed to be working. So he just put his arm around her trembling form and caressed her back until she calmed down._

_She looked up at him with red blotchy eyes and gave a weak smile. _

"_Sure you can come with me Cloud"._

"_Hey Tifa! Why are you with that loser? Come back here with the rest of us". A little boy named Farley said._

_Then a little girl named Giselle came out._

"_Eeeew! Tifa come back here before you catch the cooties from cootie Cloudy"._

_Tifa looked at Cloud and he was trembling. Obviously trying to keep himself from crying or running up the stairs to the bedroom and beating the hell out of them both._

_Now the kids were laughing at him. She saw a tear roll down from his eye and dripped off his face. She got really angry and glared at the teasing kids._

"_SHUT UP! YOU GUYS ARE THE LOSERS. CLOUD IS WAY COOLER THAN ANY OF YOU MORONS IN THAT ROOM!"_

_Now she was breathing heavily. Me and Cloud are going to go hang out, if any of you want to come, you can. But if anybody makes fun of Cloud, I swear I'll kill you"._

_Farley looked at them with disgust. _

"_Tifa when your mind is feeling better you can come to my house, we will be over there. Come on everyone Tifa and Cloud are hanging out and I don't want too catch the cooties. So lets go to my house"._

_As they filed out of the room and walked down the steps Tifa gave each of them a glare._

_When Giselle came down she pushed Cloud. He lost his balance and slammed into the wall. Giselle stood there laughing at him. Cloud got so mad that he didn't give a damn anymore. _

_He threw a punch at her. His fist and her nose connected with a crack and blood started to ooze out. She was shell-shocked, she hadn't expected Cloud to hit her. She was about to go after him again but Tifa stepped forward and smacked her one across the face._

"_Get out and don't ever come back!"_

_Giselle rolled her eyes and walked out the door. When she reached the outside step Tifa ran up behind her and pushed. Giselle went rolling down the steps to end up face flat in a puddle of mud, left behind by the recent rain._

_Cloud and Tifa burst out laughing as Giselle went home crying with blood and mud on her face._

"_You gave up all your friends to be with me?" Cloud asked lowly._

_She looked at him and patted him on the back._

"_I never liked Giselle and the rest of those kids cant live a day without me. They will come running back once they get bored." She replied_

_Cloud gave a smile and they began walking back up the stairs._

"_I was going to run away." She said as they walked down the corridor to her room._

"_Why?" He asked. "If you are going can I come?"_

_Tifa laughed._

"_Well the reason I was going is because mama is not here anymore and I thought you had left. I didn't have anyone to talk to. So I was going to start a new life. Somewhere else. Even though mama is not coming back. At least I still have you to talk to right?_

_Cloud nodded his head vigorously to show his agreement._

_When they got into the room they sat on the floor facing each other._

_Cloud started:_

_I know your mommy is gone but you don't have to worry anymore I'm here for you. My daddy is gone too so we have a lot in common. You don't have to cry any more because when you cry you make me feel like crying too. So please don't cry any more. I will try my best to make sure you don't._

_Tifa smiled and replied:_

"_Cloud I just wanna thank you for being here. I want to say sorry for all the times those kids would make fun of you. I am sorry I just stood there and let them laugh and make fun of you. You are one of the kindest and sweetest and innocent people I know. I want you to be my new best friend."_

_Cloud was surprised. Very, very surprised._

"_So will you be my new best friend Cloud Strife?" she asked._

"_I sure will, Tifa Lockhart!" he replied._

_They talked long into the night, both enjoying each other's company._

_During the days that followed Tifa and Cloud were inseparable. When Tifa had recovered from the accident on the bridge, she reprimanded everyone that dared to blame Cloud. She made all of them apologize, even some of the older and cool kids. Eventually the other kids came to find out that Cloud was a very nice person. They all started to hang out. Cloud was everywhere Tifa was and they had a crowd that always followed them even when they just wanted best friend alone time. Cloud had eventually convinced Tifa to talk to Giselle. _

"_Hey Giselle" Tifa yelled._

_Giselle turned around and saw Tifa. She rolled her eyes and waited on her._

_When Tifa caught up to her she just looked at her._

_Cloud had to poke Tifa to get her to start._

"_I just want to tell you sorry for"…. _

_Giselle slapped her so hard that her vision was blurred._

_Tifa got so angry that she jumped on Giselle and they toppled to the ground._

_Cloud was angry too, but he didn't do anything. If Giselle was going to be mad at Tifa forever…so be it. Tifa was trying to apologize but Giselle was too stuck up to notice. So he let them fight, well knowing that Tifa would come out the victor._

_They rolled on the ground until Tifa was on top of Giselle._

_She grabbed Giselle's head and bashed it into the soil of a garden they had rolled into._

_She punched Giselle repeatedly in the face until she drew blood. She then got up took Giselle by the hair and dragged her to the street, after that she began to kick her in the stomach. Giselle was crying and she was obviously in a lot of pain. Mr. Jute (the owner of the garden) came out of his house and pulled the two girls of each other. Well he pulled Tifa off of Giselle._

"_Stop this nonsense at once" he said._

_You both apologize right now._

_Tifa spoke first._

"_I am so not sorry you little wench"_

_Mr. Jute just shook his head._

_He turned to Giselle._

"_I know your father very well. Just say sorry and get it over with. She hesitated. Giselle! He yelled_

"_OK! She retorted. Tifa…I…am"_

_Tifa shrugged off Mr. Jute's grip, brought her hand back and let it fly across Giselle's face._

_She then rolled her eyes at Mr. Jute flicked her hair back, turned to Cloud and walked away with the rest of the kids. She left behind a stunned Mr. Jute and a still bleeding, crying, and dis-shelved Giselle._

_After the fight Giselle was known as Cry-baby Giselle and all the kids laughed whenever they saw her._

_Cloud and Tifa enjoyed their relationship up until the day that they made the promise at the well._

"That is when he told me that he would be my knight in shining armor. He told me that when I was in danger he would rescue me. And he has been living up to that promise ever since he came back. Aeris I love him so much. I want him to know how much I love him. I want him to know how I truly feel. I want him to be my husband and I want to spend the rest of my life with him."

She looked at Aeris who was smiling.

Aeris gave a little flick of her head that told Tifa to look behind her.

Tifa's heart stopped. She slowly turned around hoping that whom she thought was there was really there.

She turned around to see a bruised Cloud standing there with his Ultima Weapon in one hand and the other supporting what seemed to be an unconscious Sephiroth that was on his back.

Tifa was up in an instant.

"Cloud! How long have you been standing there!"

"Long enough, he replied laying Sephiroth on the ground.

Tifa I love you…

Will you marry me?"…


	12. Nibelheim Horrors

_Chapter 12: Nibleheim horrors._

Nibelheim was a quiet town located far to the west and nestled at the foot of dark looming mountains otherwise known as Mount Nibel. The mountains were as black as night itself and gave off an unwarranted feeling of dread at the sight of them. The town was a plain place that in order for one to know of it, they would have had to be well schooled in the geography of the planet that they currently resided on. Not much news was ever heard from the place and as far as communication went, they were somewhat content to live in seclusion, only so often having anything at all to do with their neighboring towns Rocket City and Cosmo Canyon. The inhabitants of the town itself were a weird bunch and just as the seclusion of cities were evident, to were the seclusion of this city's citizens. The streets were never full and excitement was judged on how drunk the local bums could get. There were no lavish houses with green yards, 2 dogs and a family tending to an outside barbeque nor was there a play ground or mall that all the neighboring youths visited. The whole town was washed in the same dull grey that seemed to shroud everything in a blanketing depression that could be felt in the very air. People kept to themselves, and for the town to be so small with a population little over 350, there were those who didn't know who their neighbor's were. Sure the town blacksmith, inn keeper, and general store owner were known, but besides that they were all nameless faces in a crowd. Well at least to each other.

The town hadn't always been like this, a few years ago the streets were bustling with excitement, although small there was always a fair that used to make its way into town and that was what every man, woman, and child looked forward too. There was a time when the trade merchants of the town would make the journey to Cosmo Canyon and get fresh produce to sell in the streets. There was also a club house that the youths use to run away too just to be kids and one walking outside couldn't help but smile at the sounds of pure joy and entertainment emanating from the open windows and doors. But all of that changed after the devastating fire that occurred years ago. No town member of that previous town still lived and the replacements were members plucked from various places of the world that in some way were in dept to the huge company Shin-Ra, and as payment decided to leave the lives they knew behind and pick up residence in the drab town. The sun barely got over the peaks of the looming mountains, hence another reason for the dreariness. When the old town's people resided in the city, there were occasions where it seemed like the sun made the extra effort to shine its rays on the warm hearted citizens. With the replacements and their slummed down attitudes it seemed like even the sun gave up on them. The club house was torn down and turned into a prison and the only occupants of said prison were the local bums that littered the streets moping their miserable lives. The people of Nibelheim were so uninterested in each other than no one bothered to commit a crime worthy of being placed in the prison for a substantial amount of time. One could only hope Nibelheim would return to its former glory. After what Shin-Ra did the hopes of that ever happening were as high as the possibilities that Mount Nibel would bow down and let the sun shine through. Shin-Ra had indeed left their mark on the town and it was evident with another dooming presence of the dilapidated and abandoned Shin-Ra mansion. Before the fire such a place was not heard of, all the extra space that the mansion took up used to be a forest in which hunters would take up the seasonal sport and see which one of them would win themselves a week of free ale for the biggest stag caught. All of that was gone. They also decided to set up one of those forsaken mako reactors in the mountains and ever since then life in Nibelheim has never been the same. There were issues with the reactor and it would leak gallons of mako into the earth so after a while the place became devoid of any life, and further more drew deadly beasts to the scene making the surrounding area of the reactor inhabitable and dangerous. One of the mako transformed fiends made its way to town and went on a killing spree and took 30 lives in one night, 10 on another and trampled a toddler in one episode. This was one of the few times the detached towns people came together and by some miracle and a shotgun, killed the monster. One would think such an occasion would definitely bring the people together, but as soon as the incident was over and the corpse dispatched of, everything went back to normal and there was little more than a whisper of the occasion. Not even the mourning families talked about what had happened. It was as if it never did. This was the prime place for evil.

As she walked down the cobble stone streets of the town, she smiled as little children ran out of the street to let her past, she smiled as mothers pulled their kids out of harms way, and she smiled as the men of the town wore flustered looks on their faces as a deep lust welled in their hearts and their loins bulged at the sight of her shameful appearance.

The town saw little action and at the wild and sporadic bums screaming about demons more than a fair share of towns people stuck their heads out the windows and those who were outside turned to look.

Her steps were sensuous and her hips swayed from left to right like an ocean wave. As she walked, her breasts gave a slight bounce with each step, and her waist length hair fell down her back like a waterfall. She was the epitome of a Greek goddess and the very air around her seemed to crack and sizzle with the authority she exuded. The men in town didn't care that she had two tentacles trailing behind her, her ever present body guards able to dispatch a man faster than the speed of light. They just saw what they wanted, she appealed to their lusts and nothing more. She had it in her hands and she did as she willed with it. The preceding thoughts that occupied their naïve minds were to just have a taste of this frighteningly exotic creature that graced them with her glory. Just a taste, a kiss maybe…no not even. Just a mere touch from her fingers would calm their erratic hearts. But they all knew that after they received that touch the throbbing of their dicks would be too much to handle and all they would want to do is get themselves ready to dig deep into her glorious vagina and relieve themselves. They had never wanted someone in their beds waiting and ready for them so bad before they had seen her, with open thighs and a soaking wet treasure. Wet with anticipation of the orgasmic sex they would ensue after they managed to mount her. They wanted to put their mouths against hers and taste her sweet nectar. They wanted to hear her moan and scream their names. They wanted her. They needed her.

The saying looks can be deceiving is as true as it will ever be. If they had really known the extent of Jenova's atrocities against man kind and her loathsome outlook on the human race they would definitely think twice about laying hands on her.. As she walked, more of the towns' people came outside and on their faces were looks of interest, some disgust, some neutral about the whole thing and happy to be outside, and some totally oblivious to the matter. But the majority of the town had lined up on either sides of the road.

She was used to the gawks and she was reveling in the various emotions assailing her senses. The overpowering one was unabated lust that she thrived upon; little did they know that this made her job all the more easier. She decided that she was in a good mood today and she would spare them from the massacre she originally intended. She made it all the way to the edge of town and one would assume she was just a lost crazy woman traveling, but then she turned around. Things were never that easy when it came to the likes of this scum. She saw all the towns' people staring at her as if they were hypnotized and she decided it was time to get things started she had already wasted enough time with Sephiroth and Cloud, the two names clouded her mind over with red hot rage but she quickly cooled and focused on the task at hand.

With her current plans of world domination and oblivion she figured she would need some help, she believed herself to be the strongest being on the planet but she also needed someone to talk too. A man preferably. She singled out a young man who seemed to have lost his mind at her beauty. She saw a young woman clinging to him and trying to pull him out of the street and away from his new found lust, she was obviously his girlfriend they seemed too young to be married but it was evident that they were together. This sparked a plan in her mind and he decided to play a little game. She looked directly at him and pointed at him with her finger and motioned him to come to her. He started to walk towards her but then stopped and turned to his girlfriend. She had a firm grip on him and the people surrounding them could hear her begging him to stay and not abandon her.

This is where the game began. If he would give into his lust then she would spare his life. The fun part was, that if he gave in, the miserable life of the girl would be ended…but…if he didn't give in his life would be Jenova's. They young man hesitated and after a while his lust took over and he gave into Jenova's will. His fate was sealed and so was the lowly peasant's next to him. He turned to his girlfriend and cuffed her in the mouth. Under Jenova's influence no doubt. He then proceeded to push her into he road and he began viciously attacking her. He kicked her in her head, and her stomach. The heart wrenching screams tore the hearts of the innocent bystanders to shreds, but they dared not move for fear of being next. The screams stopped but the beatings continued. The girl's face was now a deformed mass of broken and mutilated skin and a bloody mess. Her neck was twisted into an unbelievable position and her struggle for life and long ceased even though the dead corpse received hard blows. To the horror of the surrounding folk the young man reached for a blunted rod in the street and lifted it high in the air. With stunning speed and amazing accuracy he let it fly and a thick thud was heard as the rod landed on the corpse's neck. The already bruised skin spit open and the contents of the throat spilled onto the dusty ground. After dropping the iron rod, with one last after though the young mad flipped the body to the side in a half fetal position and took aim with his iron tipped boot. He pulled back and let a kick fly. There was a sickening crunch as the jaw of the dead body was shattered and the head went flying over a house dousing a woman with a spray of blood. The body lay broken and torn albeit headless in the middle of the street and all was silent. The people in town were horrified. They didn't dare move though. Their lives were at stake and they didn't want to die, not like that at least.

The boy walked up to Jenova and stood facing her. She walked up to him until her face was barely inches from his. She licked from his lips to his nose and moved to the side of his face where specks of blood from the attack still lingered, she licked his cheeks clean from the blood the metallic taste on her tongue sending rivulets of pleasure down to her vagina. He reached up to intercept her kiss but she has already pulled back.

"What's your name sweetie?" she asked, walking a tight circle around him.

"As…Assai" he stuttered.

"Nice. Very nice. She cooed. Would you like to have your way with me…Assai?"

While she asked the question she had took his hand and pulled up the thin piece of fabric that covered her privates. She took his finger and brushed it against her forbidden treasure. After tasting the taste of innocent blood on her tongue she was feeling a bit excited and although she could do what needed to be done with out this, she at least wanted to be touched to sate her for a while. She would have her way with him late into the night.

A cold sweat broke on the boy's forehead. And he began to breathe heavily. Obviously trying to control him-self. Jenova bit her bottom lip and pushed the tip of his finger within her. She closed her eyes and her two knees touched as the warmth of his single digit erupted into a burning fire within her. She maneuvered his finger to touch her in that place where she would release a coating of her orgasm onto his finger, further sending him close to the edge. The boy's knees buckled and he had to fight to stand up. He hadn't noticed that her tentacles were hovering above his neck. When he thought that his finger was going to go deeper into her tunnel, they (the tentacles) sank into his neck and began to leak her cells into him. Enhancing everything about him. He didn't notice the searing pain of the injection for her lips locked with his and his hand groped her breasts. His other finger was buried knuckle deep inside her and she wasn't even sure when he inserted two. He was young but definitely not inexperienced at the art of pleasuring a woman with his mere hands. His fingers sought out her walls and played with them, he dug deep into her and wiggled his fingers into her core and she was surprised at the heat he brought forth within her. She was at a lost as she closed her eyes and the movement of his wet hot tongue against her nipples and feeling as her hole was penetrated by the two digits she couldn't help the cry of ecstasy that escaped her parted green lips. Her eyes watered with pleasure and her breasts and loins throbbed with the urge for more of him. His fingers worked their magic as he gave her slow small strokes with just those two fingers. She pulled her mouth back from his as her skin heated up, she was so close to the climax that she could not think. Nothing mattered at this point, not the plans she had or how she planned to accomplish them just the moment of pure blissful release that was about to descend upon her. She grabbed onto his hand and pushed them further within her, she then stated gyrating her hips to get the max possible pleasure and then it came. In a combustion of pure womanly gusto, the gates of her orgasm crashed open and came running down her tunnel at an alarming rate, her breath hitched in her throat she held it until she had rode out her orgasm and was left breathing rather harshly.

Assai removed his soiled fingers from her vagina and examined them. With lighting fast movements he wiped the cum onto her lips and before she could move he grabbed her head and his lips was on hers. She could do nothing but kiss him back just as roughly. She studied him after he released her. The transformation complete, the signs obvious.

He was aggressive…she liked it.

A man standing there got so jealous that he ran up to Assai with a knife ready to sever his head from body just as he had did the defenseless girl. Unfortunately for him a tentacle had already extended and covered a massive amount of space in little to no time. It went straight through his head, killing him instantly and suspended him in the air for a couple of seconds before dropping his lifeless corpse to the ground. Obviously a silent threat to any of those who stood watching.

The people in town had come to the of what they could tolerate. They ran into their houses and locked the doors. After Jenova broke the kiss, leaving them both still wanting and yearning she locked eyes with him and then decided to pick up where they left off later. She kissed Assai one more time and led him in the direction of the reactor.

The walk to the reactor was not a dangerous one. There were minor monsters but nothing enough to make them breathe too hard. Once in front of the reactor Jenova smiled. She linked her hand with his felt her brethren calling out to her. She felt her children calling to their mother. She wasted no time and headed inside the reactor.

Once inside, she led Assai down many twisting corridors and doorways. She had memorized the place inside out and knew where everything was. Every nook and cranny of it. She turned to her new slave and they shared a smile. After a few more corridors and flights of stairs, they came upon a door that had a sign that read:

MAKO CONTROL CENTER. AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY.

She sighed.

"I am as authorized as anybody else on this worthless planet". She burst through the door, and what she saw made her smile. The stench of stale Mako was present in the room, and she felt more alive than ever. Before her, there were hundreds and hundreds of Mako filled pods. Each of them contained an unfortunate individual that did not withstand the Mako enhancement test that the SOILDER program required them to take.

"Assai…baby. What do you say we let mommy's children out so they can play." She asked seductively".

Assai nodded his head in agreement.

Jenova then went about to cast an Ultima spell.

She gathered most of her magical powers. She focused on her targets and after she held the spell to gather its energy she released. She had learned that when you hold a spell you allow your self to give your own energy to heighten the spells casting power.

Green mist exploded all over the place. It started at the size of a soccer ball then eventually gathered more unto itself and spread out all over the room. Once it hit the mako pods, there were explosions all over the place. This went on for about 2 minutes. Just constant explosions. When it finally ceased and the misted started to clear up, it was a scene from hell.

The things that were released from the pods were hideous. There were all kinds of abominations. There were ex-SOILDERS with two heads, and five legs. There were deformities of al kinds. No eyes, both ears on the same side, 2 mouths, rock hard skins, fire breathers, ice breathers, poison breathers, two joined at the head, 6 arms and the list goes on.

Jenova looked out on the field of monsters before her and smiled. She felt a special connection with each and every single one of them. She drew her strength from them.

"My babies! She yelled, and they all turned to face her. We are on the verge of fulfilling my master plan. If you pledge your loyalty to me, come and let us conquer, but if you don't, stay here and die. Do you pledge?"


	13. Angels

_Chapter 13: Angels._

_4000 years ago. Citadel en Anga Dou Zock (the city of Angels)_

_Lanina flew through the city streets. Her mother, Priestess Huyta was having another vision. Her mother had gotten involved with the Anga su Magjik. That was a lineage that ran through her family. When a young female angel turned a certain age. They had a choice whether to walk the path of their mother or to turn away and live a life of their own. As far back as Lanina could remember every female in her family had gone through the vigorous training and became a priestess of the Anga su Magjik heritage. She would not be the outcast of her whole family. She and her mother were alike. They had a special connection. Lanina knew when Huyta was having a vision. She felt the vision coming on and she was trying her best to make it to her mother's side in time. Her house was in view now and she put on an extra burst of speed. When she got there she flew into the living area to see a crowd around what appeared to be her mother. Huyta had told her since this morning that she had felt the vision coming to her. Lanina have had a couple of visions herself and her mother was always there. She walked up to the crowd and made her ay through. The other angels giving her passage after the realized who she was. When she saw her mother she wanted to cry. Huyta's features were a mask of pain and turmoil. She was sweating and trembling._

"_Mother…are you alright?" Lanina asked quietly._

_Huyta open her eyes, and gave a weak smile at the sight of her daughter._

"_I…am…so glad…that…you are here…my child". _

"_I wouldn't miss it", Lanina said taking hold of her mother's hand._

_These visions were bittersweet. The reason being, even though the vision gave you useful information, it would use up a great deal of your strength and leave you drained for days. That is why they only came once in a while. The last time her mother had a vision was only a couple of weeks ago. And for her to have another one so soon, was something that surprised her. She looked down at her mother's trembling form and had to pinch her self, so she wouldn't cry._

_Her mother was a beautiful woman. Fair skinned, high check bones, thin eyebrows, brown haired, straight nose, and a heart shaped face with big beautiful brown eyes. Now that she was having her vision her eyes were dull gray. It was said that when a priestess or priestess in training has a vision…the goddess of time takes possession of the body and speaks to the angel, shows her a vision of something to come, and leaves it a reede if it were something that threatened a life or a number of lives.. Thus leaving the angel strained. Lamina had witnessed this firsthand for when she had her first vision she was told that she slept for two days straight. She remembered while talking to the time goddess the feeling that came with it. It was a feeling like no other. You felt so free, and wonderful. Thee was nothing that could hold you down and all the laws that bound you were now broken. She gave you such an inner piece and calm, that made you not want to return to the present time._

_Huyta's grip tightened around Lanina's hand and pulled her from her thoughts._

_Her mother's eyes were now almost white. This told Lanina that the message was urgent._

_Her mother went deathly still and it was obvious that she and the time goddess were in communication._

_This went on for an abnormally long time and Lanina started to worry. Nobody in her family line had ever been in contact with the time goddess for this long._

_Just when she was going to call for help, her mother moaned and opened her eyes. Huyta tried to sit up but was too weak. She looked at her daughter lifted a weak hand and caressed her face._

"_Mother, are you alright?" Lanina questioned. _

"_I don't have much time. Huyta said in a raspy voice. Tears brimmed in her eyes. The goddess revealed something horrible to me. She showed me that the Apocalypse. I saw many dead people. Angels and humans alike. Lanina was stunned. Never had the time goddess revealed something about the earth dwellers. I saw them in bondage and they were being killed by the dozens. I also saw that two of our brethren would be lost and would fall to the lower plains. I saw that they would adapt to the earth dwellers way of life. She told me that they would not be able to awaken their powers without the help of the ones they were destined to be with. One of the warriors will go down the wrong path but will be set straight by his betrothed. She also left with me this reede, but I doubt I will live long enough to decipher it"_

"_What! Mother don't say"---- Lanina began but was cut off._

"_Hush child, and listen, she said this:_

_To awaken their powers_

_These warriors must know_

_When two paths before them split_

_Which one to follow_

_Whichever road they choose_

_Will not be smooth_

_In times of turmoil_

_The mates will sooth_

_They are born with abilities _

_Which are hidden to them_

_To stop Apacolypse _

_The way of the angel will rise again._

_She also said that the younger one will lead the older for it it's the older who needs the most help. I love you my child. Never turn away from your heritage"._

_With that, all life fled from Huyta's body. Her face was peaceful and serine._

_Lanina rose, with tears running down her face. She picked up her mother's still form and wrapped it in her wings as a protective barrier. She stood like this for quite some time. She then picked her mother up in her arms. She rushed out the house and took flight. She carried her mother's body to the flowing plains. She kissed her mother's face and let the plains take her. _

_40 years later………………………………………._

_Lanina opened her eyes and felt the familiar feeling of a vision coming. She had aged 40 years and her body wasn't as lean and fit as before but she could still survive a vision. She laid there and waited for it. After priestess Huyta died she had taken her heritage more seriously. She had become the strongest priestess of the Anga su Magjik heritage. She had also spread her heritage through out her hometown and now the practice of Anga su Magjik was well known. Then it came._

_She let herself go, and closed her eyes, as the time goddess took her body._

_When next she opened her eyes she was in a place full of clouds._

_As she looked down she noticed that she was the same age she had been when Priestess Huyta had died._

_When she looked up she saw a beautiful woman in flowing white gowns in front of here. It was the time goddess._

"_Priestess Lanina", I welcome you._

"_Thank you my mistress", Lanina replied._

"_I have brought you here to show you this" the goddess said._

_Before lamina could reply she was looking down at a battlefield._

_She saw dead angels, dead humans, dead monsters, and a waste ground for bodies. Her breath was caught in her throat as she watched in horror. The scene changed to that of two babies. One had golden wings and the other's were black and silver._

_This seemed all too familiar to Lanina. Where had she seen this._

_They babies were obviously floating from Citadel en Anga Dou Zock, to the lower plains. When they reached the earth's layer their wings disappeared and they were separated._

_Then she knew. This was the same vision that her mother had. She turned to the goddess. The goddess began to talk_

"_To awaken their powers_

_These warriors must know_

_When two paths before them split_

_Which one to follow_

_Whichever road they choose_

_Will not be smooth"…._

_Lanina finished for her:_

_Will not be smooth_

_In times of turmoil_

_The mates will sooth_

_They are born with abilities _

_Which are hidden to them_

_To stop Apacolypse _

_The way of the angel will rise again._

_The goddess smiled. I will not send you back to Citadel en Anga Dou Zock. For the strain of this vision was the same thing that stole the life from Priestess Huyta. Lanina was about to protest but then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see her mother standing there. They embraced. There were tears and hugs._

_Lanina turned to the goddess. Allow me to write this in my journal. For if this Apocalypse really comes then they will know what to do._

_The goddess nodded her head. Within a flash she was in her quarters, back in her old body. Tired and worn out. She forced herself to get up. She trudged to her journal, and wrote down what she had learned. She then went outside ad cast the book off of a cliff. She watched it tumble down to the lower plains. She watched until it was out of sight. She then turned and headed for the floating plains. Once there she cast her self into the clouds and was enveloped. When she opened he eyes, she was 40 years younger and in her mother's embrace. She looked around to see angels all around her. They were all the priestesses that went before her. She then went about to meet them all._

_The journal tumbled through the plains until it landed on earth. Its final destination was on soil that was red and rocky. It lay there until later on the place became known as Cosmo Canyon. There the book was found and stored into one of the many libraries of that town._

Sorry guys, this chapter was not well written at all. This is the original. I just didn't feel like writing it over, you guys get the gist of what they are talking about though. If not and you have any questions feel free to send me a private message or email me at .net. Look forward to hearing from you guys. Please review.


	14. Intervention

_Chapter 14: Intervention._

_3970 years after the death of Priestess Huyta and Priestess Lanina._

_Citadel en Anga Dou Zock_

_Lucrtia and Kasinda sat in Lucrita's living quarters. They were deep in thought. For today in the learning of scrolls, they had read about Priestess Lanina. The two angels had a deep admiration for the priestess and wanted to be like her. The only problem was that they weren't born of the same lineage as the priestess and they had long since passed the age to begin training. So they sat there admiring the priestess and her heroic sacrifice. What they were most impressed with was the vision that she had. _

_Somewhere along the way the vision that the priestess had before she died was discovered by someone in her family line. Nobody knows how or when but the event was recorded in the scrolls of the city and stored away in the holy sanctuary where the two friends went for their daily learning of the scrolls. Kasinda read over the vision that the time goddess had visited upon Lanina and she smiled._

_The two priestesses had made their mark upon history and were now revered and had a special place in the history of Angels._

"_I wish I could do something like that" she said._

_Lucrtia smiled at her friend._

"_We could always go down to the lower planes and try to intercept the warriors"._

"_I don't like your choice of word my dear friend. Kasinda started. I don't want to go down there and __**try. **__I want to go down there and get those warriors. It states here that the warriors would not descend upon the lower plain until its mother comes along to bear him there."_

_Lucrtia looked at her friend._

"_Do you think, you are one of the Mother's that bears the warrior to the earth?"_

_Kasinda hesitated. _

"_I don't know about all of that. But I have a deep feeling that we have a purpose much greater than to just grow old and gray and then die. Can you imagine us growing old together and then dying without accomplishing anything."_

_They laughed together._

"_My friend, Kasinda said. I am going. I will descend to the lower plains and take my chances. I would love you to come with me, but if you stay back no hard feelings"._

_With that she embraced her lifelong friend and sat down. She gathered her things and turned to walk out. Before she knew what she was doing Lucrtia stood up and held Kasinda's hand._

"_My friend…I will come with you. Meet me in front of the Sanctuary so that we may get the scroll of dissension. Kasinda turned with a smile. She reached into her pouch._

"_Already ahead of you" she said producing a scroll..._

_They both smiled and embraced one last time._

_Meet me here at the mid of night._

_Midnight…………_

_The two angels stood there on the very same cliff that Lanina had cast off her journal. They both knew that once they reached the low plains they could not ever return to the city. They knew that they would be reborn as humans and they would not have any memory of what had been their past lives. They looked at each other and embraced. Good luck my friend. Even though it may be impossible, I wish to see you again some day. With tears in their eyes they began the chant and their descent to the lowest plain called earth._

_They went lower and lower, each moment passing by more and more of their memory disappearing. They no longer knew each other and their lives would be changed. Their angel wings fell off their backs and dissolved. They shrank in size until they were no more than an infants. The supreme beings that controlled the plains saw their actions. They saw that the intentions of these fallen angels were pure. The warriors were then attached. One to each infant. They were lodged into the reproductive system of each infant mother. When the time was right the seeds would then begin their course. Activated by the man whom they deemed worthy to give themselves. It would give the impression that the warriors were fathered, this could never be though, for the warriors could only be of Angel lineage. The infant mothers would still have a trace of their angel heritage. Thus giving the warriors leeway to unlock the powers that lay within._

_The infant mother's then grew for 30 years, then they gave birth. The life of the two warriors is a different story .But the fallen angels became two beautiful women. One whose name was Lucrecia and the others name was Cassandra, who had bright blonde hair, similar to some one that was all too familiar._

Once again…another chapter that I don't think can be elaborated on, after much thought I should have merged chapter 13 and 14 together, but it is already too late for that. The more current events will be vamped up. These side chapters are just something so that readers won't be completely lost, and so that you can see where every thing spawned from.

R & R.

_I Was Made For This _


	15. Perfect Timing

_Chapter 15: Perfect Timing_

She stood there with her mouth hanging open. She was stunned, she was shocked, she was breathless, and she was speechless. The man of her dreams had just asked her to marry him. Tifa didn't know what to do. She didn't know whether to cry or to laugh or to jump around and scream. Tears started to stream down her face but she didn't even know that she was crying. She also didn't know if these were tears of joy, or tears of fear. She was scared that this was a dream that she seemed to be having and she was too scared to wake up. She stood perfectly still, it was a surreal moment and for the first time she utterly understood what it meant to be shell shocked. None of her senses worked and time was standing still. She was almost uncomfortable.

She was slapped back to reality when she heard a soft "ahem"… from Aeris.

She looked at Cloud and he was staring at her. He laid Sephiroth on the ground all the while never taking his eyes off her. When Sephiroth was safely on the ground Aeris face twisted into a mask of confusion at the state that he was in. She was going to ask Cloud what happened but thought better of it and held her tongue. While she didn't want to miss what happened between Cloud and Tifa, but she couldn't help but keep her eyes glued to the general. His jacket was torn to shreds and he was bruised. She studied his chiseled chest and noted that it still rose and fell, showing that at least he was still conscious. This eased a bit of her anxiety but she still couldn't wait to question Cloud as to why he was in such a state to begin with. Her scrutinizing eyes continued to roam his chest and they fell on his hard as steel pecks and then wandered to a darker shade of pink skin that poked out a little. She felt her face heat at the sight of Sephiroth's nipple and her mind raced at the thought. Now more confused than embarrassed. She decided to stop looking and focus on what was being said. Cloud had just proposed to Tifa and here she was looking at the General. A small smile curved on her lips at her deviance but she quickly erased it and turned to what was being said. But not before looking at the general one last time and purposely not avoiding the pink nub that seemed to make her chest tight.

Cloud walked up to Tifa. He looked at her standing in the middle of the burnt down town. He couldn't believe he had just asked her to marry him. It seems like he had returned to the gang at just the right time. At first when he heard her speaking and confessing her love, he had thought it was for someone else. He himself had almost started crying at the thought that she really didn't love him and there was another man in the picture. But when he really listened and he heard her re-telling the story of Giselle he knew it had to be him. He didn't want to jinx it so instead of announcing his presence he waited to hear what she was going to say after. When she was done she turned around at the same time he said _Tifa 'I love you'_ in his thoughts.

Tifa had always imagined that they man of her dreams (Cloud) would have always proposed to her in such a romantic way. She dreamt that he would take her to an open field of white elipticas, which were her favorite flowers. She dreamt that he would prepare a beautiful picnic for them and they would run together and laugh and play and roll around in the flowers. Then when night fell they would gaze up at the stars together. And when the time was right he would turn her face to his and smile. He would then pick out a star for her and name it after her. After that he would tell her to stand up and he would get on one knee and propose to her. He would tell her that he loved her and that he always dreamed of her and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She dreamt that they both would be wearing all white. No blemishes and no spots or wrinkles. It would be perfect.

But that is not the way it was. Instead they were both in the middle of a charred ghost town. She had scratches and bruises, her clothes were torn, she was sweating, her hair was in a mess and there were no stars or elipticas to look at. The man of her dreams was limping not running, had blood all over him, his perfect features were distorted and he was not in white but his clothes seemed black. Even through all of these odd circumstances Tifa thought that this was the most romantic thing that ever happened to her. She saw him walking toward her with slow steady steps. She was hesitant at first but then with her confidence growing she took more and more steps until she was in a full-fledged run and within an instant she was in his arms crying her eyes out.

Cloud was hysterical. All he could do was laugh and caress Tifa's back as she cried on him. He was so happy that she was happy. He had a strong feeling that she was going to say yes but he still wasn't too sure. He held her out at arms length. He looked at her scratched face, her red blotchy and her hair matted to her face with sweat. She never looked more beautiful to him.

She looked up at him with a timid smile. He caressed her face and wiped away a stray tear. He pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on her head.

"Tifa this is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have dreamt about marrying you, ever since that day when you kicked all your friends out so that we could be best friends. All my life I have waited for this moment to come and now it is here. I swear on my life that if you make me your husband you will NOT regret it. I love you to much for that".

"Cloud…I don't know what to say. I always wanted to tell you about the way I felt for you, but I didn't because I thought I wasn't good enough. I always thought that you just thought of me as a comrade and a friend in battle." Tifa said.

Cloud laughed.

"I have thought of you as my comrade, my friend in battle, my wife, my lover, and the mother of my child."

This brought an even bigger smile to her face. She couldn't believe that she was actually standing there. She couldn't believe that it was **her **Cloud saying that he loved her. He had just told her that he wanted her to mother his child. If she was the mother of his child that would be the greatest gift that he could ever give to her. Cloud wanted her to be part of his life and that was something that made their current situation seem unimportant.

Aeris really was happy that her friends had found each other and they were even going to get married but she **really **had to know what was wrong with Seph. Her patience finally ran out.

"Sorry to spoil your moment of bliss…but what happened to you guys. Cloud you look a mess and Seph is unconscious".

Cloud broke the embrace and gave Tifa a peck on the check. He reconsidered his action and gave his wife to be a kiss on the lips.

"I think that the whole team needs to hear this story. He said slowly. Some strange things happened out there and I am not sure that I understand all of it. Let's get back to the airship."

Aeris nodded her head, in understanding and gave one last look at Sephiroth before turning away to gather her belongings.

When the team was safely aboard the airship, everyone gathered into the briefing room. Cloud had took a shower and tended to his wounds. That was the best shower of his life. As he washed all the muck and grime away he couldn't help but think that he was washing away all his insecurities, all his doubts, all his negativity. He was now a new man and Tifa's fiancé. There was a smile plastered to his face as he finished showering and dressed. He now wore a thermal and a pair of plaid shorts.

When the whole team had gathered and settled down Cloud looked out at his friends with a smile.

"Before I start I have an announcement to make".

Everyone looked up at him.

"I am proud to say that I am the husband to be of the beautiful mistress Tifa", he said with a smile.

At first the team didn't get what he was saying but it sunk in to each of their brains at once and they all burst out cheering and laughing.

All eyes were now on Tifa who was sitting next to Cloud blushing furiously. She stood up and turned to Cloud. Then she turned back to the crew.

"Yes it is true. We are going to get married and everybody is invited except Cid and Barret".

This brought another roar of laughter from the crew and when it died down they all got down to Business.

When Cloud had sobered up he looked out across his friends and his heart warmed. These were the same people that stuck by him through thick and thin. These were the same ones who were at his side when he was lost in the life-stream. These were the same people who helped him destroy meteor and these are the same people who are now with him to take down yet another threat to the well being of the planet. He must say he was truly happy to have friends backing him up all the way. It was funny the way a group of misfits coalesced and became the most famous people on the planet. When the first mission began Cloud was all but excited to be working with what seemed to be a group of amateurs. With the training he had done under Shin-Ra, he was rather embarrassed to actually be considered a part of the groups AVALANHE. At the time he thought, if any one of his buddies from the Shin-Ra army was to hear of this then his fall from grace would most definitely be the laughing stock of the whole military. But after coming to know the various members and seeing the amazing abilities that each possessed he was quite surprised. Each person was a professional at what they did. So they ended up being a band of professionals going against a tyrant company. A dangerous gang at that, although small they were very deadly. He remembered clearly the first day he was assigned a mission with Barret. The big man seemed to despise everything about him, but together they pulled through and eventually blew up the reactor. After that their bonds on friendship were strengthened and the rest of the team attached themselves to an already sturdy foundation, making it stronger.

"I am happy to see all of you guys here once again. As you all know you are not obligated to stay here and fight, but if you were to leave there would be no hard feelings but you will be sorely missed".

Red and Yuffie shared a silent smile and she scratched behind his left ear.

Barret spoke up:

"Hey where the hell is Sephiroth? Shouldn't he be here?"

Cloud cleared his throat.

"That was my next order of business. I am sure you all know that he and I went to go look for anything that may have been left over by Jenova".

The team nodded their heads and continued looking at him.

"Well I might as well tell you the story.

_Seph and I both felt a familiar tug on our mind when anything of Jenova was around. We both felt it and decided…_

****

She opened here eyes and pain shot throughout her body.

"What happened to me?" she thought.

Mariah tried to sit up but was not able too; she closed her eyes again and tried to refocus her vision. When she opened her eyes again she was able to recognize the familiar hum of the engine on the Highwind. She then remembered her last condition. She was in the clutches of that Bashdiko thing and it was squeezing the life out of her. She looked around and saw that she was in her room and she was alone...again. Her heart rate quickened, as she looked around frantically for her weapon. She turned her neck so hard to the right that she swore she had broken it. Hot white pain soared through her neck, but she ignored it as a smile crossed her features. It was on her nightstand. As long as she had that weapon she would never truly be alone. Mariah believed that the spirit of her father dwelled inside of the weapon and anytime in battle he would help her.

Her features softened as the pain in her neck and body subsided. She didn't know why she felt so at peace. Maybe I am dying she thought. She didn't care anymore. She just wanted to be with daddy.

****

"And that is what happened" Cloud said, as he ended off his story.

He had gone into deep detail of everything that happened and the order of which they happened. He told them about the battle the training, he even told them about that move that Sephiroth had done.

The team was in shock they had never heard of such a thing before. Now they had no source of information, they were a couple of hours behind Jenova, and two of their comrades were unconscious.

Tifa cleared her throat and spoke up:

"So Cloud, what's next from here?"

Cloud pondered this for a moment.

"I was thinking that we would first go Cosmo Canyon and look into the libraries to see if we could find anything on the Anjasukatei fighting technique that Sephiroth was involved in and seemed to be so important, Then we would head over to Nibleheim and survey the damage that was done since there is nothing much that we can do over there, and then we would head over to the Northern Crater. There were several gasps from the team members at the mention of that forsaken place.

I don't know why but my mind is pulling me toward that area".

Everyone understood.

It was quite obvious as a matter of fact. First she attacked Mideel. Mideel was one of the places on the planet that had an open area that she could easily access the Lifestream. The Northern Crater was another place that was an open area. From the current knowledge that team had, it was not known that the Lifestream could be accessed from that point, but with Jenova lurking around anything was possible.

Yuffie was taking in all of this information. She was letting it sink it. She was also trying her best to just sit there and keep a calm and cool attitude. It was things like this that made her feel like wanting to live that normal life. She didn't want to have to bother about going back to that horrible place. She didn't feel like chasing another maniac halfway across the world, and she sure as hell didn't feel like flying in the damn Highwind all day!!!! She felt utterly useless and she didn't like it. Everyone seemed more or less excited about their new adventure. How could she make herself noticed? She needed to feel like she was needed. Then it hit her. She remembered that Vincent had told the group that he was sending Herda and Lincoln over to Nibleheim because of their current living conditions. But Jenova was heading there too.

"Hey Cloud. What about Herda and Lincoln? Weren't they headed to Nibleheim also?"

Cloud's eyes widened in realization. He turned to Cid.

"Cid can you get Reeve on speaker phone right now?"

"Sure can" he replied.

He spoke into the intercom, and told one of the co-pilots to get Reeve on the phone. Within in seconds everyone in the briefing room heard the ringing of Reeve's PHS.

"Hello, Reeve speaking". Reeve answered.

Cloud spoke:

"Hey Reeve this is Cloud"

"Oh, hey Cloud. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. I am not taking up any long period of time but I just called to ask about the two people that Vincent wanted you to send over. Where are they?" Cloud asked.

"Oh yea, about that. I just wanted to let you know that they are being housed in my building complex because the pilot of the chopper saw the commotion down there and decided to bring them back. Don't worry they are safe." He ended.

Cloud gave a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Reeve".

"No problem Cloud. Ill talk to you later."

"Will do" cloud replied. And he hung up the phone.

He turned back to his crew.

"Guys…looks like we are headed toward Cosmo Canyon in the morning. So get some shut eye."

As everyone departed Cloud and Tifa was left sitting in the conference room. She purposely let the team file out and more or less everyone got the point that they wanted to be alone. She sitting in a chair unnecessarily close to Cloud and him watching everyone file out with a goofy lop sided half grin on his face. Once the room had cleared and it was just those two remaining he sat down with a sigh and turned to his bride to be. Taking her hands in his, he turned to look at her face, taking in every fine feature, every scratch, and every bruise. How he wanted to kiss them and where his lips touched the skin healed. Only if he possessed that power he would ease whatever discomfort she had, no matter how small.

He hadn't realized how long he had been staring at her and he saw a light pink blush creep up to her cheeks and he too turned away. They sat in silence for a few minutes and then he turned back to her.

"Miss Lockhart, I Love You". He said without pause.

Her heart soared and she tightened her hands around his. This was almost the hundredth time he had told her that since they had been aboard the ship and each time she heard it, it was like a breath of fresh air. No matter how hard she tried to get over the fact that Cloud had proposed to her, she could not. It all seemed like a dream that was bound to come to an end. She had pinched herself countless times and eventually concurred that if it was a dream she would enjoy it until she woke up. She looked into his eyes and made a bold move.

She leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips and ran her hands through his fluffy blonde hair.

"Correction." Cloud looked confused. "Mrs. Strife is my name, and I love you as well."

They both shared a small smile and decided to head to the kitchen. When there Tifa pulled out two mugs of hot chocolate and proceeded to sit next to Cloud. He immediately put his arms around her as they sat in the small booth of the Highwind. They talked for a long while that night. Each revealing secrets harbored from a childhood together. Love was the main topic and the feelings for one another that just didn't want to go away. They were happy though, and that was all that mattered at the moment. The damsel in distress had claimed her hero and the king had finally crowned his queen.


End file.
